Victor EzejaSENIOR Advocates of Nigeria (SANS), Southeast Chapter, has condemned the raid of the Abuja residence of a Supreme Court of Nigeria Justice, Mary Odili, describing it as an attack on the independence and integrity of the entire judiciary in the country.
Justice Odili who was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court by Former President Goodluck Jonathan in June 2011, is currently the second most senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Security operatives who claimed to be acting on a valid search warrant issued by an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court sitting at Wuse Zone 6, stormed Justice Odili’s home at No. 9, Imo Street, Maitama, on Friday.
The court order was issued based on an allegation raised by a whistleblower, Aliyu Umar, who claimed to have observed some illegal activities going on at Odili’s residence.
SANS, Southeast chapter said such act by security agencies in the country amounts to a calculated attempt to intimidate and emasculate the judiciary in the country, recalling similar raids on homes of senior judicial officers in 2016 by officers of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Department of State Services (DSS), and observed that no one was arrested or prosecuted for carrying out such illegality then.
The group observed that such an attack on the judiciary coming from the executive arm is a breach of the legal protection of judges and the judiciary as contained in Nigeria’s constitution.
“These consistent and systematic attacks of 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 (NJC) with the responsibility to handle all complaints and matters relating to judicial officers.”
The group cited some cases where the court revealed the position of the law about issues related to judicial officers, stating that NJC which is the apex judiciary body in the country, has powers to take disciplinary actions against any judicial officer found to have committed professional misconduct, adding that “it is only when the NJC has given a verdict and handed over such judicial officer (removing his toga of judicial powers) to the prosecuting authority that he may be investigated and prosecuted by the appropriate security agencies.”
“We re-emphasise that it amounts to an executive infraction on the judicial independence to continue to harass, intimidate and humiliate judges. We want to further reiterate in clear terms that in view of the constitutionally guaranteed doctrine of the 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,” SANS stated.
The group called on President Muhammadu Buhari who is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to order an investigation of all security officers involved in the assault of judicial officers.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and EFCC have denied their involvement in the raid on Justice Odili’s residence.
In a statement issued by Malami’s Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu on Saturday, October 30th, Malami distanced himself and his office from the exercise.
Gwandu said Malami would not stoop so low to get involved in such irregular court process.
“It is important to set the record straight that as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, Malami will not stoop so low to be associated with an apparent in-elegant and nasty court process on the strength of which the purported search warrant was procured.
“The media reports on the issue depict a too untidy process that could never emanate from the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
“The general public need to know that there was nothing called ‘Joint Panel Recovery Under the Ministry of Justice’ in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and by extension the entire Federal Ministry of Justice.
“What we have is ‘Inter-Ministerial Committee on Assets Recovery’ the mandate of which does not include sting operations,” Gwandu stated.
He alleged that there is a criminal undertone in the process of the raid and disclosed that the office of the AGF has reached out to relevant authorities to carry out deeper investigations into the matter “for necessary actions leading to the prosecution of anyone involved in the matter.”
EFCC on its part, in a statement on Friday 29th October, signed by the Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, said it did not embark on such operation.
He urged members of the public to disregard any report linking the anti-graft agency with the operation.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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