The State Security Services (SSS) has said that the operations it carried out recently by arresting some judges were based on allegations of corruptions and other acts of professional misconduct by the Judges.

A statement by Abdullahi Garba of the Service said that its action 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.

“In one of the States where the Service operations were conducted, credible intelligence revealed that the Judge had Two Million United States Dollars ($2,000,000 USD) stashed in his house. When he was approached for due search to be conducted, he in concert with the State Governor, mobilized 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 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.

“Meanwhile, large amount including foreign/local currencies have been recovered. Summaries of these include:

Summary of Recovered Money

1. Naira – N93, 558,000.00
2. Dollars – $530,087
3. Pounds – £25,970
4. Euro – €5,680

“Other foreign currencies were also recovered. This were recovered from just three (3) of the judges.

“These in addition to other banking documents, including real estate documents have been recovered. Meanwhile preparations are ongoing to arraign them in a competent court of jurisdiction in line with the laws of the nation.

“The Service would want to clearly state that it has never invited Justice Walter NKANU ONNOGHEN for investigation, neither is he being investigated by this Service. In addition the Service would like to put it on record, that it has tremendous respect for the Judiciary and would not do anything to undermine it or its activities. The Service will also join hands with this noble institution in its fight to rid it of few corrupt Judges whose actions is undermining not only the Judiciary but the common bond of our national life.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this current operation will be sustained and followed till sanity and sanctity is restored to the esteemed third arm of government and public confidence is regained.

“Members of the public are also encouraged to avail the Service of any information which could assist in this drive to rid our nation of corrupt practices and tendencies.”

.Being a statement presented to the press in Abuja by Abdullahi GArba of the Department of State Services. [myad]

A Lagos-based lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has described the alleged security service invasion of the homes and arrest of some judges as a full-blown dictatorship, even as he asked the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to boycott all the courts in the country as a result.

In statement today, Saturday, Adegboruwa, said: “it is now a case of anarchists in power. The clampdown on judges has been on for a long time, through agents of government in the various institutions of oppression.

“We are now back to the 1984 jackboot system of intolerance, where all dissenting views and opinions must be silenced.

“It is condemnable for the DSS, which is an arm of the executive, to be breathing down on the judicial arm of government, under the guise of fighting corruption.”

Adegboruwa said the SSS raids had cleared any doubt that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption was a hidden agenda to perpetuate the administration in office beyond 2019.

“It is meant to silence the opposition and to cover the inefficiency and cluelessness of this administration,” he said.

“The 1999 Constitution in sections 4, 5 and 6 prescribes the system of separation of powers between the three arms of government.

“But since 2015 when this government was sworn in, the executive arm under Gen Buhari has dominated and brutalized the other two arms of government. The leadership of the National Assembly is under trial and it is now the turn of the judiciary.”

Adegboruwa said democracy prescribes independence of the judiciary, which allows judges an unfettered right of taking decision according to law and according to their consciences.

“It is in this regard that the mindless invasion of the homes of judges by the DSS is totally condemnable,” he said.

“It should never happen that the executive is indirectly threatening and intimidating members of the third estate of the realm.

“As judges have no voices to speak officially, I call on the Nigerian Bar Association to declare an indefinite strike so that all courts of law in Nigeria will be boycotted until there is respect for the rule of law and the Constitution, commencing from Monday, October 10, 2016, until further notice.” [myad]

Rivers State governor, Nyeson Wike has alleged that officers of the State Security Service (SSS), who went to arrest some judges in his state today, Saturday, threatened to shoot him when he tried to prevent them from carrying out the arrest.

This was even as the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said that the governor was telling lie and playing to the gallery.

Governor Wike said that while some of the officers rough-handled him, pushing him around and injuring his hand, others “cocked their rifles and threatened to shoot me.”

“It doesn’t matter what it will cost. When you talk about liberty, sacrifices must be made. We are not trying to stop an arrest. All we are saying is that things must be done decently and in line with the rule of law.

“Rivers State is under siege. For you to see a governor out at this time of the day, something is wrong. A siege is an understatement. If this type of thing happens next time, the people will resist it to the last, Wike stated.

A statement issued by the Special Assistant to the Governor on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, said the security operatives were irked by Wike’s arrival at the scene shortly after the failed abduction process began. It was learnt that Wike received security information on the illegal moves, minutes after the operation started.

According to Nwakaudu, the security operatives blocked the entrance of the residence of the Federal High Court judge at about 1am on Saturday morning, claiming that they were acting on orders from above. As they dragged Governor Wike, they insisted that they must be allowed to leave with the judge.

However, the commotion attracted passersby and journalists who thronged the vicinity to know why hundreds of security agents in several Patrol vans had been mobilized.

Upon the arrival of the national media, the Rivers State Director of the DSS, Mr. Tosin Ajayi jumped into his vehicle and fled the scene.

However, addressing journalists, Rivers State Police Commissioner, Francis Odesanya said the two security agencies were at the scene because they received privileged information.

Odesanya claimed he was at the scene as a peace maker. He declined comments on why the Police joined the DSS to abduct a serving Federal High Court judge.

In an interview with journalists at the scene of the failed illegal abduction of a Federal High Court judge by the Police and DSS, Wike said it will not be under his watch that security agencies wiĺl be allowed to entrench needless impunity.

He declared that their reckless action portends danger to the nation’s democracy, noting that he is convinced that President Buhari is not aware of the level of impunity being perpetrated by Federal Security agencies.

Wike stated that whatever the situation, the rule of law must prevail in a democratic setting.

He said if the security agencies had a lawful directive to implement, they must follow due process.

The official residence of another judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, on  Zone E of Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja, was also searched.

DSS had no warrant for the search conducted on Justice Dimgba’s house, according to family sources.

Two Justices of the Supreme Court – Justices Sylvester Ngwuta and John Okoro –  had earlier in the day, been arrested at their official residences in Abuja by men of the Department of State Service and in Rivers state, an attempt to also arrest another Supreme court judge was resisted by governor Wike.

The arrest was led by Mr. Tosin Ajayi, Rivers State Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), and Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Francis Odesanya.

And in a statement, the Rivers State Chapter of  the APC described the alleged failed arrest of a Federal High Court Judge and the attempt on the life of Governor Wike as false.

A statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of Rivers State APC, Senibo Chris Finebone said: “early this morning, the media space was once again putrefied with a bizarre account by Gov. Nyesom Wike of his encounter with a detachment of security personnel and how he [the governor] was allegedly manhandled.

“To give the incident more prominence in the media space, the governor, through his media assistant, Simeon Nwakaudu, issued a statement which opened with an assertion that what happened was part of a siege on Rivers State by the Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Ordinarily, this morning’s macabre dance by Gov. Nyesom Wike should not merit any serious interest from anyone, because everyone has become sick and tired of such from him, but for the innocent people and residents of Rivers State whom he subjects to unbridled lies and misinformation under one phantom excuse or the other.

“There is no question that the melodrama is just one of the many chapters in Gov. Wike’s book on political demagoguery. Or how can anyone explain the many obvious inconsistencies that fly in the face of his highly mendacious account to the media this morning?

“Indeed, we ask: “How come the governor said he did not know the occupant of the house? How did he find his way to the gate of a house he did not know the occupant? Is the judge of a federal high court under the governor of Rivers State? May be, yes but why? Is the federal high court, its judges and the DSS not belong to the same federal government?

“The APC believes that the governor is once again up to his dishonest self. We do not believe his account. We believe that the bizarre stunt of bravado being peddled by Gov. Wike is just for the purpose of convincing his collaborators in the judiciary in Rivers State that he will always protect them.

“The claim by Gov. Nyesom Wike that his presence at the scene of the incident was to help resist abduction is typically dishonest. He was there to obstruct justice. Simple! And the reason is that crime connects much more than innocence does.

“But how far really can the governor go in shielding his cohorts from the law? Can the governor, for example, appear with those that have been dragged before the National Judicial Council [NJC]? Can he?

“We thank God that Governor Wike is in a position to tell the story [for whatever it is worth] by himself. If there was a role change in the morning, the security people would not be alive to tell their story now.

“The APC believes that recklessness is a choice which attracts consequences. May be Gov. Nyesom Wike learnt a lesson or two this morning. Please, let him deal with it and stop hawking insinuations or attempt to drag the APC or Mr. President into the matter.” [myad]

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that it is only God who knows why he created Nigeria with multitude of ethnic and religious backgrounds, even as he prayed that God would give him and his team the courage to be fair to all so as to earn His mercy.
Buhari, who spoke when he received in audience, the chief Imam of the Mosque of the Holy Prophet in Medina, Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul-Muhsin Muhammad Al-Qassimi, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said that God had a purpose of bringing people from different ethnic backgrounds into one country called Nigeria.
“God knows best- a population of 180 million people comprising more than 300 ethnic groups many of them with cultural ties stronger than religion can only co-exist peacefully in an atmosphere of social justice.
“I pray that God gives us the courage to be fair to people he put in our charge so that we can enjoy his mercy.”
President Buhari said that his administration will continue to promote unity and peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians by ensuring fairness and social justice to all.
The President called on all the citizens of the country to imbibe and practice social justice as a norm even as he prayed to Allah to guide his government in doing the same.
President Buhari confessed that he had learnt “an important lesson about social justice” through several personal life lessons, from the country’s political crisis in 1966, the civil war, his incarceration for three and half years in solitary detention and his attempts to win presidential election.
The President commended the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their efforts to create a better understanding and practice of Islam.
He said that the visit of the Imam to Nigeria would strengthen the bond of ties between the two countries.
This was even as Sheikh Al-Qassimi commended the peaceful co-existence of Nigerians of different faiths.
He expressed satisfaction with the cordial relations between government and religious leaders and called for a better teaching and practice of Islam devoid of extremism. [myad]