Thread by @mmnjug

Retired Chief Justice @dkmaraga joined and rose through the ranks of @Kenyajudiciary as a result of "strong solicitation and constant lobbying", Nairobi-based lawyer @ahmednasirlaw has claimed. - @NationAfrica

In his response to a defamation suit filed by Justice (rtd) Maraga over a Sh220 million bribe allegedly given to a Supreme Court judge, the lawyer says the retired CJ has a history of soliciting favours.

Mr Abdullahi, a senior counsel, has neither named the judge who received the bribe during Maraga's tenure as CJ nor the case at the centre of the bribery.

But he has revealed what he says are details of his past deals and engagements with the former CJ, going to the extent of question the retired judge’s lifestyle and source of wealth.

The lawyer says when he was first elected as chairman of @lawsocietykenya in 2003, he together with other council members travelled to Nakuru.

At the time, Judiciary's 'radical surgery' introduced by the govt of President Kibaki to weed out corrupt judges and magistrates was at its peak. Mr Maraga one of the senior lawyers practising in Nakuru then welcomed Mr Abdullahi's team to the town, according to Mr Abdullahi.

Following his (Maraga) strong solicitation and constant lobbying, we included him in a list of 35 lawyers and was appointed judge of the High Court in 2004," says Mr Abdullahi in the 10-page affidavit.

And when the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board was scrutinising the suitability of judicial officers, the lawyer says Mr Maraga called in the middle of the night seeking to have his job saved.

At the time, the lawyer was a member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the Judiciary employer, representing the LSK. Eight years later, the senior counsel claims, Justice Maraga sought his help to get elevated to a Court of Appeal judge in 2012.

When Maraga applied for promotion to be appointed judge of appeal, I met him whilst I was in company of my wife. He pleaded with me to look into his application favourably. says Mr Abdullahi.

After Maraga was appointed, he made lunch for me and another commissioner and served them (sic) a meal of chicken, ugali and sukuma at his home in Karen. - Abdullahi

The city lawyer and the retired Chief Justice are entangled in a court dispute started by the latter when he sued over a social media post on alleged bribery of a Supreme Court judge.