Federal High Court judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola has said charges against him that he and his wife collected the sum of $520,000 as gratification were trumped-up.

Ademola spoke through a lawyer in his defence team, Jeph Njikonye.

Njikonye while speaking with Punch said the charges were bogus, stating that the judge was ready to defend himself.

He said the Federal Government was only trying to justify the ‘unconstitutional’ action of raiding the judges houses.

The lawyer said, “We have taken a preliminary look at the charges and we can confidently say that they are bogus and trumped-up to play to the gallery of the public. It is also an attempt to justify their unconstitutional raid on the houses of the judges in the wee hours of the day.

“Unfortunately, the populace will not have the opportunity to be in court to see how unsubstantiated and how woolly those charges are. There is no iota of substance in the charges.

“All of these are politically-motivated. They are trumped-up to denigrate and tarnish the name of the judge and the name of the Ademola family.

“They also went so low to impute that the judge received gratification from his uncle, who runs the G.T.J. Ademola & Co. We will be eager to get to the bridge and cross it.”

He also described Ademola’s wife as a woman of integrity.

“In playing to the sentiment of the public, they disingeniously roped in the wife of the judge.

“As the Head of Service of Lagos State, the wife of the judge does not reside in Abuja.

“She is a woman of sterling character and who does not know anything about the cases her husband presides over.”

Ademola has been accused of receiving a total sum of N248,101,300 and $520,000  as gratification from some law firms and others between 2013 an 2016.