Nigeria’s chief justice, Justice Tanko Muhammad, has denied knowing a former senator being investigated for alleged extortion.

A spokesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said Senator Shehu Sani was arrested for collecting $10,000 from a businessman, Sani Dauda, owner of ASD Motors who has a case pending with the anti-graft agency.

Dauda claimed Sani told him he needed the money to bribe Tanko and four other judges to influence the case in favour of Dauda.

“Senator Shehu Sani is not known to the CJN,” Supreme Court’s Director, Press, and Information, Dr Festus Akande, said in a statement.

“Justice Tanko Muhammad has never, in his entire life, seen or had any form of encounter or interaction, either directly or remotely with Shehu Sani, let alone giving him assurances of what is not only unethical but equally despicable and inglorious, to say the least.”

“Let it be known that if the statement credited to Shehu Sani was actually made by him, it is simply a blatant lie, a figment of his imagination and an orchestrated falsehood immodestly concocted to malign, smear and disingenuously tarnish the good image and reputation of the CJN with a view to gaining financial reward,” Akande said