Nigerian judges are planning an unprecedented mass resignation to protest the alleged assault against the independence of the judiciary by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The mass discontent running through the system over the arrest of seven of their colleagues by the Department of State Services penultimate Friday, is now reaching a climax with an ongoing mass mobilisation nationwide to resign enmass.

In the plan being hatched, the Federal High Court could end up being the most affected if the protagonists went ahead with their plot.

Incidentally, suspended talks at the National Judicial Institute (NJI) on whether the Federal High Court should be phased out or retained, had not been concluded. our reporter was told by multiple senior sources that judicial officers who had been materially successful in legal practice before opting for the Bench as a form of service, aren’t finding it funny that even properties acquired before joining the Bench are now being tagged proceeds of alleged corruption by both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the DSS, probing alleged malfeasances in the justice system.
A particular DSS-interest was reportedly infuriated that after acquiring a Doctorate degree in Law at a prestigious university in the United Kingdom (names withheld) and making a fortune practising law abroad with multi-million naira worth of properties to show for it, he is now being smeared with corruption allegations all because he wanted to serve his country as a judge.

A total of 31 top judges of superior courts of record are being investigated by both agencies (DSS and EFCC), including two justices of the Supreme Court.

Three of the said judicial officers have recently been exited from service by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

While the DSS is handling cases of 23 judges, EFCC said it was probing eight judges and two court registrars.

Apart from the initial seven, busted in the midnight raid by the DSS, the service had disclosed that eight other judges were to be picked before a reported presidential directive halted all operations as public disavowal hit the exercise.

Another set of two judges were reportedly arrested days after the midnight raid, while the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, was said to have sent another six petitions against six judges to the DSS.

While reacting to a report of loss of confidence in EFCC, commission said eight judges are under its own belt, with one of them, also in DSS’s net.

The eight initially planned for the second round of arrest, are all said to be justices of the Supreme Court.

A top source confirmed that the apex court was aware of the project, allegedly targetted at giving the court a new beginning with new entrants who are not necessarily from the Court of Appeal as it is the tradition.

A cabinet minister during a private media briefing refused to confirm or deny the identities of the targetted judges.

The minister also refused to confirm if Justice Walter Onnoghen, the CJN-designate, is among those to be arrested. It was also revealed at the interface that the current administration had resolved to bust anyone with huge cash at home and such would be considered proceeds of crime if the owner could not convincingly explain how he or she came about the cash.

According to him “if your cash is clean, you will put it in the bank.”

Before embarking on the raids, they had written a series of memos to the NJC. On 26th February, 2016, the DSS sent a memo with Reference No DGSS.71/3161 to Justice Mahmud, accusing Justice Muazu Pindiga of Gombe judicial division of alleged corruption on his involvement in the Rivers State election petition tribunal as the former chairman before he was removed.

In another memo from the DSS dated 5th August, 2016 with Reference No LSD.158/2/31, the Service accused Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court who had earlier ruled against the DSS in its case against Umar Mohammed, of alleged corruption, recommending to the NJC “to urgently investigate the compromise and gross misconduct by the judicial officer as his conduct falls short of the expectations of the profession and defeats the culture of probity, transparency and equity which this current administration stands to entrench”. The memo was signed by Ahamed Ahmad for Daura.

Meanwhile, Onnoghen who was last week recommended to President Muhammadu Buhari as the next CJN, is reportedly primed to go through his security screening this week at the DSS headquarters in Abuja.

He is the sole nominee to the president.

The security screening is expected to establish his suitability for the job, before his name will be forwarded to the Senate for confirmation.

He is the first CJN-hopeful from the South in 29 years.


http://thenigerialawyer.com/dss-raid-judges-plan-mass-resignation/

That will be a good development

iF THEM LIKE LET AISHA RETIRE FROM BEDROOM BULLY AND KITCHEN RAPE .


WE ARE NOT NIGERIAN'S . you arrest all you can even a grave yard .


you can not force us to accept Nigeria .



we are .B...frans even pastor bakare knew it

Good news.

glassjar1:
iF THEM LIKE LET AISHA RETIRE FROM BEDROOM BULLY AND KITCHEN RAPE .


WE ARE NOT NIGERIAN'S . you arrest all you can even a grave yard .


you can not force us to accept Nigeria .



we are .B...frans even pastor bakare knew it

Lol... then why not commit crime. few weeks in kirikiri will convince u

better sef....

That's Nice

dullard president moving the british zoo called nigeria into anarchy.

blackpanda:


Apart from the initial seven, busted in the midnight raid by the DSS, the service had disclosed that eight other judges were to be picked before a reported presidential directive halted all operations as public disavowal hit the exercise.

Buhari must be wishing all he had was a country full of Zombies

This is the height of dictatorship should they go ahead with the mass resignation then Nigeria is doomed as Buhari will now put his "own Judges" in place which might take Nigeria to Golgotha.

Corrupt Judges sacking themselves

babdap:
Corrupt Judges sacking themselves

You make sense die

Who cares

That'll be the wrong step to take. They need to stay and fight back to prevent a hijack of the judiciary otherwise they will be handing d president and his handlers what they want on a platter. He'll simply recruit APC members as judges and then justice will really be gone to the dogs.

Buhari has a poverty mentality: he thinks all rich people are thieves. He is also a sadist who hates progress and good living.

Wait oo, I thought all Nigerian judges have resigned en mass a since Goatluck Jonascam lost the errection, sorry I mean election. If not, can anyone here mention one corruption case the useless judges have completed since EFCC started bringing looters to court about one year ago? Even Olisa Metuh that confessed and begged to return his loot, his case is still not completed. Even Alex Badeh, Olusola Amosu and other military chiefs who looted the treasury and have confessed and begged for plea bargain, their case is still uncompleted. Olu Fale also confessed, Jim Nwobodo too confessed e.t.c. yet their cases are still being adjourned everytime by the corrupt judges. Now tell me, what are the judges doing? Let all the judges retire to their houses while the masses use Jungle Justice to deal with the looters including the bribe taking judges. Corrupt Judiciary is worse than Cancer.

They can go .
Who need them

Mtchewww

Best news so far In 2016. Let them resign abeg.

Let them resign. They then become 'ordinary citizens' and can then be picked up and arraigned anytime

Of what benefit are they to the maintenance of law in Nigeria? They are bunch of saboteurs to the rule of law in Nigeria!

Imagine highest bidder judges who have been thwarting justice for selfish ends claiming importance in the governance of Nigeria. To hell with all of them.

simpleseyi:
Wait oo, I thought all Nigerian judges have resigned en mass a since Goatluck Jonascam lost the errection, sorry I mean election. If not, can anyone here mention one corruption case the useless judges have completed since EFCC started bringing looters to court about one year ago? Even Olisa Metuh that confessed and begged to return his loot, his case is still not completed. Even Alex Badeh, Olusola Amosu and other military chiefs who looted the treasury and have confessed and begged for plea bargain, their case is still uncompleted. Olu Fale also confessed, Jim Nwobodo too confessed e.t.c. yet their cases are still being adjourned everytime by the corrupt judges. Now tell me, what are the judges doing? Let all the judges retire to their houses while the masses use Jungle Justice to deal with the looters including the bribe taking judges. Corrupt Judiciary is worse than Cancer.

This post reeks of acute, myopic ignorance and is chock full of rank zombeism! You are really simple-minded as ur name implies.
For your information, Judges do not complete cases, that is the business of the parties ie the prosecution and the defendants until both have submitted final addresses. No judge in this dispensation is accused of refusing or failing to render judgment within the statutorily stipulated time after parties have closed their cases!

If u take time to study the ACJA, u will see how a plea bargain works. It is not at the behest of the judge rather the prosecution and defendant agree on terms and present it to the court and provided those terms are in line with statutory provisions which the judge is bound by, he will enter it as a judgment of the court which is then enforced. You should be asking the FG why despite all the noise about looters begging and returning stolen funds, they have never entered those terms of their bargain for the court to record as a binding judgment.

Again, u realise that the court does not keep the accused persons in its custody, that is for the prosecuting or security agency under the FG. If they refuse to bring the accused person to the court for his testimony after arraignment as in the case of Dasuki, or lose case files in the Court of Appeal in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, what is the court to do? Is it not scolding the DSS for failing to comply with court orders as to location and custody of a defendant that earned Justice Nnamdi Dimgba the sudden raid and arrests he was subjected to?

New generations will take over then. We're supporting them to resign I beg.

So they don't know it'll be an advantage to PMB. Na now I know say them no get sense.

They will not likely resign as others are praying for them to resign so that they will step in. It could have been possible if they were the only qualified Justice in Nigeria.

I support you, judiciary.

Enough is enough.

Sometimes, the comments I read here shows that most people here are ignorant of what they are even reacting to. If a council is unable to prove to the court that his client is not guilty or prove that that the defendant is guilty, you term the judge corrupt.