Renowned lawyer, Ahmednasir Abdullahi, has detailed in an affidavit how Chief Justice (Rtd.) David Maraga allegedly called him at night begging him to save his job.
In the affidavit responding to a defamation case filed by Maraga, Ahmednasir claims that he had a Ugali and chicken meal at Maraga's home in Karen after successfully lobbying for him to get appointed as a Court of Appeal Judge.
The Senior Counsel states in his affidavit that when he was elected President of the Law Society of Kenya in 2003, he visited Nakuru with other members of the council and were received by Maraga.
According to Ahmednasir, Maraga called him the following night crying and begging him to save his job by lobbying a Commissioner he identifies as Abdullahi.
The Senior Counsel states in his affidavit that when Maraga applied for a promotion to be appointed as a Judge in the Court of Appeal, he met the former CJ who pleaded with him to favour his application.
“I remember Maraga was literally shouting please help me, my brother, my career is over, I am finished... the former CJ begged me to lobby commissioner Abdullahi,” Ahmednasir claims in his affidavit.
“Maraga was one of the senior lawyers practising in Nakuru and welcomed us, following his strong solicitation and constant lobbying we included him in a list of 35 lawyers and was appointed Judge in 2004.
"When the plaintiff applied for the promotion to be appointed Judge of Appeal, I met the plaintiff whilst I was in the company of my wife. He pleaded with me to look into his application favourably," he added.
The Senior Counsel went on to claim that when Maraga was appointed, he made him lunch at his Karen home.
Maraga sued Ahmednasir over tweets alleging that the former Chief Justice led a Supreme Court that abetted graft. But the Grand Mullah, as he is commonly referred to, argues in his affidavit that Maraga cannot file a suit of defamation on a tweet that criticised him while he was still in public office.
“On January 12, the defendant posted, published and circulated a defamatory, libellous, and scandalous tweet on his account. The said tweet attracted 565 comments, 381 retweets and 2500 likes,” Maraga's affidavit read in part.
The former Chief Justice added that the tweet still appears on Ahmednasir’s Twitter account, which is open to millions of users.
