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| Cross section of judges at a ceremony |
Nigeria has taken the war
against corruption to the door steps of judges, recovering various sums of
monies, including foreign currencies.
News
Agency of Nigeria report continues:
Department
of State Services (DSS) confirmed on Saturday that it carried out a special
sting operation on some judges of Supreme, Appeal and High courts.
The
monies recovered included ₦93,558,000, US$530,087, £25,970 and €5,680, Mr
Abdullahi Garba of DSS, said in a statement.
DSS,
he said, in the past few days, embarked on the raid based on allegations of
corruption and other acts of professional misconduct by a few of the suspected
judges.
The
action of DSS, he said, was in line with its core mandate, “as 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 amounts of money paid’’.
The
judges involved were invited, upon which due diligence was exhibited and their
premises searched.
Raw
cash of various denominations, local and foreign currencies, with real estate
worth several millions of Naira and documents affirming unholy acts by these
Judges were recovered.
He
said that some of the judges have made useful statements while a few have
declined even with the glaring evidences that were found against them in terms
of material cash, documents and property recovered pointing to their
compromise.
He
alleged that in one of the states where the Service operations were conducted,
credible intelligence revealed that the Judge had US$2,000,000 stashed in his
house. The DSS did not mention the state, but earlier reports in the social
media mentioned Rivers.
“When
he was approached for due search to be conducted, he in concert with the State
Governor, mobilized thugs against the Service team.
“The
team restrained itself in the face of unbridled provocative activities by those
brought in by the Governor.
“Unfortunately,
the Judge and Governor also engaged the tacit support of a sister security
agency.’’
DSS
surveillance team, he explained, noticed the resistance of the Judge with the
active support of the Governor and craftily moved the money to an unknown
location which the Service is currently making effort to unravel.
Garba denied
that the Service invited Justice Walter Nkanu Onnoghen for investigation.
According
to him, Justice Onnoghen is not being investigated by
the Service.
The
Service, he said, has tremendous respect for the Judiciary and would not do
anything to undermine it or its activities.
Governor
Nyson Wike of Rivers state on Saturday alleged that he was manhandled by
security operatives who tried to arrest a judge but confirmed they were able to
ward off the operatives.
He described the action of
the DSS undemocratic.
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