A Makurdi Magistrate, Mr. Isaac Ajim, yesterday advised the Commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission in Benue state, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, to bury his pride and tender a public apology to Governor Samuel Ortom if he knew he had done wrong.
Ajim gave the advice before ruling on an application which Tsav through his lawyer, Mr. Anthony Agadah, brought for adjournment in a criminal case instituted against him by the Benue State Government.
The magistrate stated that many cases dragged on for long as a result of the inability of one of the parties to say sorry.
Tsav had earlier asked the court for more time to enable him settle the matter amicably with Governor Ortom out-of-court, as he had already compiled with the conditions that were given, except the issue of public apology.
Counsel to the Benue state government, Mr. Andrew Wombo, opposed the request and told the court that the former police commissioner had rejected the conditions given to him to write a letter retracting his false allegations against Ortom and tendering a public apology.
He submitted that Alhaji Tsav had written the letter in which he did not tender a public apology as a result of which he stated that the prosecution was ready to proceed with the case.
The magistrate accepted the submission of the prosecution counsel and directed counsel to the accused to move his motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
Agadah, who was about to move the motion, noticed that he had not attached some necessary documents and requested an adjournment to enable him attach the documents.
In his ruling, Ajim adjourned the case to October 19, 2017, for hearing of the motion for preliminary objection.
When the case came up on July3, this year, Tsav asked the court for time to meet the conditions for out-of-court settlement in a criminal case instituted against him following a letter he wrote to Governor Ortom in which he made many allegations of corruption and copied to anti-graft agencies and the Presidency.
