Delta chief judge debunks child trafficking allegations
Nosa Akenzua, Asaba
The Delta state judiciary has debunked the allegation of child trafficking and illegal adoption of children levelled against the state Chief Judge, Justice Marshal Umukoro by one Mr. Ighorhiohwunu Aghogho and his collaborators.
Making clarifications on the issue in Asaba, the Head of Protocol and Public Relations, High Court of Justice, Delta state, Mr. Agbaragu Timothy said the recent series of defamatory on-line publications by Mr. Aghogho, the proprietor of Explosive Academy, Abraka, was calculated to smear the good image and reputation of the state chief judge.
Agbaragu disclosed that Mr. Aghogho whose license to operate an orphanage in Abraka was revoked by the state Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and Social Development, has severally written frivolous petitions to the National Judicial Council (NJC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other security agencies against the person of the chief judge.
However, he affirmed that the outcome of investigations had always exonerated the state chief judge of the allegations.
He described Aghogho’s unprovoked campaign of calumny as evidence of frustration, suspected depression, even as he urged the public to discountenance such cheap blackmail coming from a reactionist whose stock in trade was vitriolic attacks on public office holders for cheap popularity.
Agbaragu said that the chief judge has dismissed the unprovoked and unbridled defamatory assault against his person as the inconsequential handiwork of an idle mind, further posited and that, “as somebody who holds such esteemed office on public trust,
l consider it pertinent to inform unsuspecting members of the public that there is no iota of truth whatsoever, in the allegations made by Aghogho and his cohorts.”
He explained that as the number one judicial officer in the state who has sworn to dispense justice to all, including children, the chief judge saddled with the constitutional responsibility of defending the rights of children has done the needful by constituting family courts in all the senatorial districts of the state in order to protect the rights and privileges of children.
Agbaragu, therefore, advised Mr. Aghogho to desist from his ignoble and unwarranted campaign of calumny against the person and office of the state chief judge, but to engage in endeavours that would benefit him, children and the society at large.
