The Nigerian Bar Association on Saturday declared a state of emergency in the judiciary following the midnight arrest of some judges by the Department of State Services.
The declaration of the state of emergency was made on Saturday evening in Lagos by the NBA President, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN).
Mahmoud addressed the press alongside four past presidents of the association – Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN); Mr. J.B. Daudu (SAN) and Augustine Alegeh (SAN).
Others in attendance at the declaration, which held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, were Prof. Kayinsola Ajayi (SAN), Mr. Yusuf Ali (SAN), Mr. Dele Adesina (SAN), among others.
Mahmoud said two Supreme Court justices, Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta were “abducted”, with their families, adding that he had yet to have the full detail of other judges who could have been involved.
Mahmoud said the NBA condemned what it termed the Gestapo-style operation of the DSS.
He announced the constitution of an emergency or crisis management team, comprising past NBA presidents to engage with the government.
Mahmoud, who said it was not the responsibility of the DSS to arrest judges, described the DSS action as an unconstitutional means of intimidating the judiciary and undermining its independence.
The NBA President called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the immediate release of the arrested judges, vowing that there would be consequences should the demand be ignored.
Mahmoud said, “I want to emphasise again that we are not under military rule and we cannot accept this unholy event and Gestapo-style operation.
“We, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately caution all the state security agencies and to respect the rule of law and to respect due process.
“Any issues affecting the judicial officers, there are established procedures for handling them and we demand that this constitutional process must be obeyed.
“Given the unfolding nature of the event and the seriousness of the situation, the NBA hereby declares a state of emergency as it affects the affairs of the judiciary and I hereby constitute a crisis management team, comprising all past presidents of the association.
“I want to, on behalf of the association, make the very following clear and unequivocal demands: we demand the immediate and unconditional release of all the judges abducted from about 9pm yesterday (Friday).
“The release must be done immediately and without any conditions. Two, we demand that the Department of State Services should limit itself to its statutory and constitutional responsibilities.
“I’ll be meeting with the CJN later tonight or tomorrow. There will be consequences should these demands are not met.”
Also commenting, Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, says the Department of State Services (DSS) had no reason whatsoever to invade the homes of some judges at it did on Saturday morning – even if the judges were corrupt as the agency later claimed.
DSS operatives raided the homes of Adeniyi Ademola, the judge handling the trial of Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA), who is being prosecuted by the agency for alleged illegal possession of firearms and money laundering; Nnamdi Dimgba, a federal high court judge; Walter Onnoghen, a justice of the supreme court judge; and Sylvester Ngwuta, another supreme court justice.
It later explained that the houses it raided were those belonging to judges involved in corrupt and unholy practices. But Fayose disagreed, saying the proper things to do was to first report the judges to the National Judicial Council (NJC).
“It should now be obvious to all Nigerians and the international community that democracy is under threat in Nigeria and Nigerians must rise to save democracy from being truncated,” Fayose said while addressing the press in Ado-Ekiti.
“For all intent and purposes, there is no how the federal government can justify the gestapo and crude action of the DSS against our judiciary, the last hope of the common man and I believe they just want to hide under anti-corruption fight to blackmail and intimidate the judiciary.
“If not, have the affected judges been reported to the National Judicial Council (NJC), the body saddled with the responsibilities of investigating and sanctioning erring judges? Were the affected judges ever invited by the DSS and they refused to honour the invitation?
“I am particularly worried over the involvement of Justice Walter Onnoghen in the invasion, and I hope this is not a plot to prevent his appointment as the next CJN just because he is from the South South region.
“Nigerians should be reminded that I raised similar alarm when this regime of impunity started with the invasion of the Akwa-Ibom State government house and later the Ekiti State House of Assembly.
“I did say then that democracy in Nigeria was becoming unsafe in the hands of this APC government and that those keeping silent because of politics might also end up in the belly of the roaring lion that is threatening to consume our democracy.
“Then, those who ought to have joined in condemning the DSS impunity at that time kept silent for fear of the unknown. Now we have gotten to the height of it and Nigeria faces full-blown military dictatorship! This is sad!”
He said it was more worrisome that two of the judges involved, Justice Adeniyi Ademola and Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, ruled against the DSS and condemned its impunity on the cases of Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA); and Umar Mohammed, a retired air commodore.
“One wonders if upholding the rule of law by refusing to help the DSS to sustain its reign of impunity has now become a criminal offence for which judges must be harassed, intimidated and arrested,” he continued.
“The question to ask is that, will the DSS be a judge in its own case? Even if there are evidence(s) of corruption against the judges as they will want Nigerians to believe, the law is clear as to what to do. The NJC must be informed and the council will in turn investigate the allegation and take appropriate actions. It is after this that the affected judges can be invited for questioning and possibly prosecuted.
“It should be noted that few days ago, the NJC sacked three judges for breaching the Codes of Conduct for Judicial Officers and went further to recommend that one of them, Justice Kabiru M. Auta be handed over to the Inspector General of Police for prosecution for alleged corruption.
“If NJC could do this less than one week ago, has the same NJC been informed of any allegation of corruption against the judges whose residences were invaded? “I therefore call on all Nigerians and the international community to rise in defense of democracy and the rule of law in our country because as it is, no one will be spared by this rampaging dictatorship.
“Particularly, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and other stakeholders in the judiciary must not allow this to go unchallenged. Obviously, the DSS has become a threat to democracy in Nigeria, having abandoned its core mandate of providing intelligence for the protection of the internal security of Nigeria as provided in the Security Agencies Act Cap. N74 LFN, 2004.
“It has therefore become necessary that President Buhari put a stop to the actions and activities of these overzealous security agencies that can endanger democracy.”
In a statement, t
he Department of State Services (DSS) says it raided the homes of some judges across the country over allegations of corruption levelled against them.
The agency said it it found $2million stashed in the house of one of the judges.
Speaking to journalists at a news conference at the DSS headquarters in Abuja on Saturday, Garba Abdullahi, an agent of the service, said the secret police had been monitoring the lifestyle of some judges, and that it was determined to bring sanity to the judiciary.
“The DSS, in the past few days, has embarked on a series of special sting operations involving some judges of the supreme, appeal and high courts,” Abdullahi said.
“These operations were based on allegations of corruption and other acts of professional misconduct by a few suspected judges. The service is 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. The searches have uncovered huge 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.
“Meanwhile, some of them 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.”
Abdullahi alleged that $2m was stashed in the house of one of the judges.
“In one of the states where the service operations were conducted, credible intelligence revealed that the judge had $2m stashed in his house,” he said.
“When he was approached for due search to be conducted, he, in concert with the state governor, mobilised 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 the governor also engaged the tacit support of a sister security agency.
“The service surveillance team noticed that upon frustrating the operation, the judge, with the active support of the governor craftily moved the money to an unknown location, which the service is currently making effort to unravel.”
The DSS agent gave a breakdown of the money recovered from three of the suspects as N93.558m, $530, 087, 25, 970 pounds and 5, 680 euros.
However, he said that Walter Onnoghen, a supreme court justice, and chief justice of Nigeria designate, was not being investigated.
“The service would want to clearly state that it has never invited Justice Walter Nkanu Onnoghen for investigation, neither is he being investigated by the service.”
At the end of the briefing, the DSS agent refused to take questions from journalists.
