www.newsexpressngr.com/news/29264

The Legal Defence and Assistance Project
(LEDAP) has condemned the raid of residences
of some judges in Nigeria, and the arrest of
some of them by the Department of State
Services (DSS).
It described the night raid as a flagrant assault
on the rule of law and interference with the
integrity and independence of judges, saying it
amounts to crass intimidation of judges, which is the first line of attack of dictatorships.
LEDAP called on all lawyers to rise in unison to
condemn what it called an attack on the judiciary
by the executive and in protest boycott the
courts next week from Monday, October 10 to
Friday, October 14.
It said the action would send a strong message
to the President Buhari regime that the legal
profession would not stand by and watch the
desecration and denigration of the judiciary.
“It is to the detriment of the Bar and Bench in
Nigeria for the security agencies to make
spurious allegations and illegally try judges in
the pages of newspapers.
“It raises wrong and unjustified public
perception of the justice system, and impugns
on public confidence in justice and governance,”
a statement by the spokesman for LEDAP, Chino
Obiagwu, read.
The group asked the Federal Government to
investigate and punish security officials
implicated in the unwholesome act.
“It was wrong to execute improperly issued and
illegally executed search warrants at night on
judges, and in any event, without prior recourse
to the head of the judiciary.
“The constitutional principle of separation of
powers is sacrosanct and once eroded, will drive Nigeria to a tyranny,” Chino Obiagwu added.
It is the second group that is threatening to
scuttle judicial activities if the arrested judges
were not released.
Earlier, the Nigerian Bar Association had called
for the immediate and unconditional release of
the judges.
The group said their arrest was unconstitutional, declaring a state of emergency in the judiciary.
It says the arrests are disturbing and
unconstitutional, describing it a situation that
had never been witnessed.
The President of the NBA, Mr Abubakar
Mahmoud, at a briefing in Lagos, warned the
Federal Government of “grave consequences”
should the demands not be met.
Mr Mahmoud said two Supreme Court justices,
Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta, were
“abducted” with their families.
He said: “I want to, on behalf of the Bar
Association, make the very following clear and
unequivocal demands.
“We demand the immediate, unconditional
release of all the judges abducted from about
9:00pm yesterday (Friday).
“The release must be done immediately and
without any conditions.
“We demand that the Department of State
Services (DSS) should limit itself to its statutory
and constitutional responsibilities.
“It is not the responsibility of the DSS to perform
duties meant for police officers and other
agencies of the state.
“I want to emphasise again that we are not
under military rule and we cannot accept this
‘unholy events’ and this ‘Gestapo-style of
operations’.
“We therefore call on President Muhammadu
Buhari to immediately call all the state security
agencies to order and to respect the rule of law
and due process.
“Any issue affecting the judicial officers, there
are established processes for handling them and we demand that these constitutional processes must be obeyed.
“Given the unfolding nature of the events and
the seriousness of the situation, the NBA hereby
declares a state of emergency as it affects the
affairs of the judiciary.”

Corruption is indeed very powerful.
Lalasticlala, Mynd44 make una see corruption don dey fightback.

Lets just watch and pray that nigeria does not go back to 1967

Meanwhile the conductor mistakingly shouted LONDON, instead of LAGOS

No boy is above the law once caught.

Buhari is awaking civil activism unknown to him.

Na wa o, what kind of madness is this. We are complaining of bad economy, buhari wants to make it worse by heating up the country, abducting supreme Court judges, when he could have easily invited them.

ALISMILE:
Corruption is indeed very powerful.
Lalasticlala, Mynd44 make una see corruption don dey fightback.

the source! Unless this mod ain't gonna do anything

ALISMILE:
Corruption is indeed very powerful.
Lalasticlala, Mynd44 make una see corruption don dey fightback.

Corruption is indeed fighting back. Intimidation of the judicial by the executive to do their bidding is corruption.

Breaking into judges houses in the middle of the night without a valid warrant is corruption.

We must all say no to corruption.Trust me Buhari will surely regret this move.Going after supreme court judges in this manner is just too reckless and stupid. Not even Abacha was this daring

slimfit1:
No boy is above the law once caught.

How exactly where they caught?

Indeed! But i'm not a Zombie

I ve watched with consternation since xterday pple's reaction to this news since its the 1st of its kind in our nation's history.
Even supposedly discerning minds like Obailala and tonyebarcanisa reacted negatively to the news and denounced the actions of DSS which took the nation by surprise. I can understnd their sentiments given the high profile individuals involved and the sophisticated positions they all occupy. So many pple ve understandably opined that invitations could ve been extended to those judges.
Although, I'm not a DSS personnel but I've a deep understnding hw tins work in those areas. I think the govt placed priority on catching the judges unaware and springing the element of surprise, hence their decision to postpone the operation and go about it almost simultaneously across the country. In operations like this premium is placed on accosting the suspect when he is off guard or when he least expects increasing the chances of arresting him with exhibits vital for prosecution. The Judge whose arrest was frustrated by Wike in Portharcourt was obviously desperate to get rid of incriminating evidence/exhibits and did a good job of it aided by the gov.
The corruption in our judiciary if properly X-rayed is jaw-dropping. in fact I expected this govt to have done somtin critical like this about our judiciary within its 1st 6months in offc. The searchlight on our third arm of govt needs to be beamed properly. Judges collecting money frm politicians and criminals letting them off the hook by granting them unbelievable injunctions in their favour is sometin that needs to be checked quickly and continuously.
It is only in Nig criminals beg our ultra corrupt police to take them to court. What this means is that even as corrupt as the police there re some cases they cannot compromise at the station. Then lawyers to the criminals(Ricky Tafa SAN) finds his way through the judiciary and the case ends up in the dustbin.
Our judges re worse than the police. This country is not being fair to the police(topic for another)

kcnwaigbo:

Corruption is indeed fighting back. Intimidation of the judicial by the executive to do their bidding is corruption.

Breaking into judges houses in the middle of the night without a valid warrant is corruption.

We must all say no to corruption.Trust me Buhari will surely regret this move.Going after supreme court judges in this manner is just too reckless and stupid. Not even Abacha was this daring

"Judges may be VIPs but they are not above the law, and when they commit heinous crimes, they are treated like criminals. There is no law saying judges can't have their houses raided when arresting them and preventing them from tampering with evidence. The FBI does it regularly in the US.

If you disagree, please read the story of Rep. William J. Jefferson of Louisiana (of the Atiku Abubakar fame) whose house and two offices were raided by the FBI during an investigation into a bribe he collected from a telecom company to help influence US government contracts. He was later arrested, prosecuted successfully and sent to prison.

Now, if there is an order of merit for federal lawmakers and judges in the US, lawmakers should be superior. Nigeria follows the US style of government even if she borrowed English Common Law. So, because the house of a judge was never raided before in Nigeria doesn't make it illegal to do so with cogent reasons.

Lawyers have been talking of the DSS inviting the judges instead of raiding their homes. That is laughable. Even me who knows little about the law of evidence will be smart enough to hide all those dollars and pounds if given 20 minutes notice of DSS wanting to question me or search my house.

By the way, the FBI found $90,000 hidden in Rep. Jefferson's refrigrator. Google and read that story before we argue further. And if I find time, I can retrieve stories of US law-enforcement officers raiding the house of a corrupt judge in the middle of the night and prosecuting him successfully in court.

kcnwaigbo:

How exactly where they caught?

The judges house is no first bank.