THE Presidency has said that the recent “surgical operation” against some judicial officers is specifically targeted at corruption and not at the judiciary as an institution.
It maintained that President Muhmmadu Buhari reserves his highest respect for the institution of the judiciary as the third arm of government and that the President will not do anything to undermine its independence.
Reacting to media reports on the arrest of three judges by the operatives of the Department of State Security Service in a statement on Sunday night, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, said President Buhari respects the rule of law as a committed democrat.
He said: “President Buhari remains a committed democrat, in words and in his actions, and will not take any action in violation of the constitution.
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The recent surgical operation against some judicial officers is specifically targeted at corruption and not at the judiciary as an institution.“In a robust democracy such as ours, there is bound to be a plurality of opinions on any given issue, but there is a convergence of views that the country has a corruption problem that needs to be corrected.
“But reports by a section of the media are giving us cause for concern.
” In undertaking the task of reporting, the media should be careful about the fault lines they open. It is wrong to present this incident as a confrontation between the executive and judicial arms of government.
“The Presidency has received assurances from the DSS that all due processes of the law, including the possession of search and arrest warrants were obtained before the searches.
“To suggest that the government is acting outside the law in a dictatorial manner is to breach the interest of the state,” the statement said.