Invasion: Nigerians rally behind Justice Odili

AS nationwide condemnation continues to trail the invasion of the Abuja home of Justice Mary Odili, of the Supreme Court, concerned Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) of South Eastern region at the weekend condemned the unlawful raid. 

The raid, said to have been orchestrated by some security agencies, the senior lawyers said, is yet another frontal attack on the independence and integrity of the judiciary. In a statement by Professor Ilochi Okafor, Mr Etigwe Uwa and Mr Chijioke Okoli, all SANs, they all expressed worry that the raid was part of a series of events aimed at systematically intimidating and emasculating the Judiciary, as there were similar raids by the EFCC, DSS and other security operatives on the premises of Justices of the Supreme Court in 2016, and residence of some judges of the Federal High Court, in Abuja. 

“Despite all these, no one has been arrested and prosecuted for such brash criminal attack on the judiciary. 

“Similar raids by the DSS operatives had also taken place in the courtroom of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court while the judge was sitting, to abduct a defendant in an on going criminal case, and none of the perpetrators have been held accountable. 

“These consistent and systematic attacks on the judiciary by the executive is clearly in breach of the constitutional protection of judges and the judiciary. 

“In particular, Section 158 and Paragraph 21 Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, clearly empower the National judicial Council with responsibility to handle all complaints and matters relating to judicial officers,” they said. 

The SANs said, in view of the constitutionally guaranteed doctrine of independence of the Judiciary, no security agency or prosecuting authority in Nigeria has the power to investigate, arrest, or prosecute a sitting judicial officer without first referring the matter to the National Judicial Council, and await the directive of the council. 

They called on the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to immediately direct investigation of all security agents and other persons who played any role in the assault on the judiciary and any person found culpable should be made to face the full wrath of the law. 

Count me out of the invasion —Malami 

THE Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, (SAN) has said he has nothing to do with the invasion of the residence of Odili. 

Dr Umar Gwandu, Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations to Malami, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja. 

Gwandu distanced Malami from what he described as fabrications and concocted lies linking him to the ensuing imbroglio relating to news stories about the searching of the Supreme Court judge residence. 

He said the clarification to debunk the mischievous publication became imperative in view of the media hype and the dimension the story was taking. 

“It is important to set the records straight that as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, Malami will not stoop so low as to be associated with an apparent inelegant and nasty court process on the strength of which the purported search warrant was procured. 

“The media reports on the issue depict processes too untidy to ever emanate from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation. 

“The public need to know that there was nothing called `Joint Panel Recovery’, under the Ministry of Justice, what we have is `Assets Recovery and Management Unit’, the mandate of which does not include sting operations’’. 

Invasion, undemocratic —Kalu 

Also reacting, Chief Whip of the Senate, Dr. Orji Kalu, described the invasion as a cruel, undemocratic and uncivilised act. Condemning the raid on justice’s home, Kalu called on the federal government to commence a full scale investigation into the ugly incident, adding that the unwarranted invasion of the house of the Judge was capable of causing tension in the country. 

Kalu, who is former governor of Abia State, stressed that in a democratic setup, the rule of law must be strictly adhered to for the sake of national progress and development. 

While condemning the sad incident, he urged appropriate government agencies to discharge their duties and responsibilities in tandem with the constitution, noting that violation of human rights will set the country backward. 

Kalu called on the federal government to bring the perpetrators of the evil act to book, adding that unlawful invasion of a citizen’s residence is against the constitution of Nigeria and tenets of democracy.

Atiku, PANDEF condemn act 

FORMER Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the raid on the residence Justice Odili. 

A press statement from his media office Saturday quoted him as saying that a continuation of the notorious behaviour of security operatives conducting a raid on residences of senior judicial officers negates the ideals of a democratic society and an affront to the independence of the judiciary. 

He added: “It is with utmost disgust that we continue to witness situations whereby law enforcement agencies conduct raids on residences of senior judges in the country. 

Irrespective of the investigations that they pursue, such practices give expression of professional misconduct and put our country in very poor images. 

In the same vein, The Pan Niger Delta Forum, (PANDEF) also condemned the raid, describing it as crude. In a statement, National Publicity Secretary of PANDEF, Hon. Ken Robinson, described the raid as crude. 

“The raid, in dusk hours of last Friday, is not only crude and primitive but barbaric and dictatorial. 

“It is another attempt by Agents of the Buhari administration to further intimidate and humiliate the Nation’s Judiciary. 

“And this one of such actions too many, against persons of Southern extraction, particularly, persons from the South-South geopolitical Zone,” he lamented. 

PANDEF, in the statement, recalled that the “same nefarious manner that the Abuja residence of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, was invaded in January 2019, which was considered by many as part of political machinations, leading to the 2019 General Elections. Justice Walter Onnoghen was later suspended, made to face a “kangaroo” trial over trumped-up charges, and was forced to retire. 

“It needs not be reiterated that this is a democratic republic and every organ of the state bureaucracy, especially the security agencies, must conduct themselves in responsibility to the people of Nigeria.

 

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