 |
Abubakar
Mahmoud, President, Nigerian Bar Association
|
Lawyers under the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have declared a state of emergency in the
judiciary as tension continues to build over the raiding of the homes of some
judges allegedly by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The
president of the association, Abubakar Mahmoud addressed journalists in Lagos
late Saturday, October 8, 2016, declaring that the DSS abused its powers in the
arrest of the alleged judges.
Speaking
on the development, Mahmoud, who was with some senior lawyers
including Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN); Mr. JB
Daudu (SAN); Augustine Alegeh (SAN); Prof Kayinsola Ajayi (SAN); Mr Yusuf
Ali (SAN); Mr Dele Adesina (SAN), and others, said the Inyang Okoro and
Sylvester Ngwuta, the two arrested Supreme Court judges, were actually abducted
with their families.
The
Punch reports that Mahmoud, who said the DSS had no powers to arrest sitting
judges, condemned the action of the DSS and constituted
an emergency or crisis management team to include past NBA presidents.
He
called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the immediate release of the
judges adding that if the call was not heeded, the NBA would determine its next
line of action.
“I
want to emphasize again that we are not under military rule and we cannot
accept this unholy event and Gestapo-style operation.
Untold Story Of SSS
Raids On Judges’ Homes In Abuja, Five States
The
State Security Service raided the homes of some senior Nigerian judges late
Friday and early Saturday to gather evidence of corruption, officials have told
PREMIUM TIMES.
The
raids on multiple residences in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe, Kano, Enugu and
Sokoto, were not aimed at arresting the judges, they said.
An
official said the operation was ordered after months of investigations, during
which the secret police established credibly that the affected judges were
involved in questionable financial dealings.
The
SSS initially submitted parts of its findings to the regulatory body, the
National Judicial Council.
Officials
said the SSS moved in after the council merely recommended two of the judges
for retirement, and not prosecution.
The
council also refused to cooperate with the SSS as the agency launched wider
investigations into the cases for more evidence.
The
source explained that judges whose homes were raided include Adeniyi Ademola, and
Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja as well as Sylvester Ngwuta
and John Okoro of the Supreme Court.
In
Kano, the source said the home of a high court judge, Kabiru Auta, was raided
along with another residence in Enugu belonging to the Chief Judge of the
state, A. I. Umezulike.
The
two judges were earlier recommended for retirement recently by the NJC.
The
residences of a Gombe State judge, Muazu Pindiga, as well as that of his
counterpart from Sokoto state, Justice Samia, were also raided during the
operation.
Our
source said during the search, documents linking Mr. Ngwuta or Okoro to estates
worth over N1.5 billion were recovered.
At
the residence of Mr. Ademola, the SSS recovered at least US$400,000 and ₦39
million in cash, in addition to documents of landed properties belonging to the
federal judge.
The raid at Justice
Mohammed Liman’s residence in Port Harcourt, our sources said, was ordered to
allow operatives search the house because he was believed to be in possession
of US$2 million.
Nigeria's Security Agency Says US$800,000
Seized In Raids On Judges
Nigeria's
security agency has seized US$800,000 in cash found during raids targeting
senior judges in corruption investigations, the Department of State Services
(DSS) said on Saturday, Reuters reports.
It
carried out the operations on the judges' premises in the last few days, it
said in a statement, without specifying the premises or how many judges had
been targeted. It said the judges were from the supreme, appeal and high
courts.
The
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) later issued a statement accusing the security
agency of a "Gestapo-style operation" and demanded the release of
judges arrested in the investigation.
"The
release must be done immediately and without any conditions," it said. The
NBA did not say how many judges had been arrested.
President
Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, won an election last year largely
fought on his vow to crack down on corruption. Since taking office he has said
he will recover "mind-boggling" sums of money stolen from public
coffers.
But
the president's critics have accused him of mounting a witch-hunt against
political opponents.
The
DSS said its raids were carried out to investigate allegations of corruption
against the judges.
"We
have been monitoring the expensive and luxurious lifestyle of some of the
judges as well as complaints from the concerned public over judgment obtained
fraudulently and on the basis (of) amounts of money paid," it said in
statement.
The
security agency said it had discovered "cash of various denominations,
local and foreign currencies, with real estate worth several millions of naira
and documents affirming unholy acts by these judges".
The
DSS said preparations were being made to bring criminal charges.
The Nigerian Bar Association urged Buhari to "immediately caution all the state security agencies and to respect the rule of law".
No comments:
Post a Comment