*Vows to conduct independent investigations on it
By Emeka Okeke
The Supreme Court yesterday reacted angrily to the invasion ofJustice Mary Odili, by security agents who have been dubbed as “unknown security agents”, saying they wanted to kill her.
It also described the action is “unlawful”, warning that the judiciary should not be misconstrued by any individual or institution of government as the whipping child among the three arms of government.
In its reaction four days after the ugly incident, the Director, Press and Information, Dr. Festus Akande, described the attack “as uncivilized and shameful show of primitive force on an innocent judicial officer”.
The statement read in part: “We are alarmed with the news of the unwarranted and despicable raid on the official residence of one of our senior justices in the Supreme Court, Hon. Justice Mary Peter Odili on Friday 29” October, 2021 in a Gestapo manner.
“The attack unfortunately depicted a gory picture of war by some armed persons suspected to be security operatives representing different agencies of government who seemed to have come to kill and maim their target under the guise of undertaking a search whose warrant was questionable and baseless.
“We are deeply saddened and taken aback by this uncivilised and shameful show of primitive force on an innocent judicial officer that has so far spent several years of her productive life serving the country she calls her own.
“This incident brought back, rather painfully, the ugly memory of the October 2016 midnight invasion of the homes of our respected justices with no satisfactory explanations as to the true motive behind such brazen assault on our collective sensibility.
“We wish to make it abundantly clear that the Nigerian Judiciary is the third arm of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and should be respected and treated as such.
“We have had a full dosage of this fusillade of unwarranted and unprovoked attacks on our judicial officers and even facilities across the country and we say it loudly now that enough is enough.
“The judiciary should never be misconstrued by any individual or institution of government as the whipping child among the three arms of government that must always be chastised and ridiculed to silence because of our conservative disposition.
“Though there have emerged discordant tunes from the various security agencies that allegedly participated in the dastardly act, we are not lying low on this dehumanising treatment meted out to one of our own.
“We have commenced a full-scale independent investigation to unravel the true masquerades behind the mystery as well as the real motives behind the whole imbroglio.
“Similarly, we call on the Inspector-General of Police of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to rise up to the occasion by carrying out a discreet investigation and make his findings known to the Nigerian public with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice as quickly as possible.
“The Nigerian Judiciary cannot only bark, but can also bite. We can no longer be treated with disdain and levity.
“The rule of law and constitutionality must govern our conduct so that we can tag along with the comity of nations and be taken seriously too”.
The AUTHORITY reports that a Chief Magistrate, Emmanuel Iyanna, had issued the search warrant which he later withdrew, saying he was deceived to do so through misrepresentation of facts by two affidavits.
It was the warrant and previous affidavits deposed to by a self-acclaimed whistleblower, Aliyu Umar, and a senior Police Officer, CSP Lawrence Ajodo, that led to the incident.
A so-called Joint Panel Recovery, Ministry of Justice, has allegedly carried out the invasion with their operatives.
All the heads of security agencies fingered in the infamous act, including the Police, Depatlrtment of State Security and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) all denied participation or authorising the invasion.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN) also denied that any such panel existed in his office.
With the denials, which is akin to those by the nation’s security agencies in recent times, analysts feel the motive was to kill Justice Odili so she would not have the opportunity of becoming the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), being the next in seniority among the Justices of the apex court after the incumbent CJN.
