₦airaland Forum

Ido Division of the Ekiti State police command came under attack by yet to be identified gunmen in the night of Friday and killed a police Inspector on duty and looted the armoury of the police station.

Sources at the police station told newsmen in Ido-Ekiti, headquarters of Ido/Osi Local Government Area of the state, on Saturday that the gunmen numbered about 40 and had shot indiscriminately on entry to the police station premises, causing extensive damage.

The source at the station also said that the gunmen had attacked the station with dynamite, which destroyed doors, equipment and the roof of the station, which has caused the policemen to be working under a tree there.

The police source said: “They drove in recklessly through the gate. Some of them had scaled the fence and took over the entire police station. Some of them even scaled the fence and took strategic positions around the station, shot into the air sporadically and destroyed virtually every room and office. They had gone straight to the police station and the armoury.

“They looted the armoury, took everything there and left it empty. Our suspicion was that they came only to loot the armoury because that was

why they first attacked and demobilised our men. In fact, they emptied the entire place.”

Asked if some suspects of dangerous crime were being detained at the station, which could be the reason for the attack, the source said “if that was the motive, then they should have attacked the cells; they didn’t attack the cells.”

The source said the policemen on guard during the raid were overpowered because the attackers were fierce because, according to him, “they rained bullets on the police inspector and he was said to have died on the spot.”

Efforts made to reach out to the Police Public Relations Officer of the state Command, Mr Alberto Adeyemi were unsuccessful, as all his mobile phone sets were switched.

But a police officer confirmed that the PPRO had visited the station to get first hand information about the incident.

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dimieprincess:
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Nigerians who in the past questioned the conduct of many judges, but had no way of prompting investigations despite having evidence of wrongdoing, are inundating the State Security Service with petitions after last weekend’s arrest of seven judges, security sources said Wednesday.

The petitioners accuse the judges of fraud and want the SSS to widen its investigation beyond judges already penciled down for probe and possible prosecution.

“It’s like everyone who has had cause to go to court for one reason or the other has been a victim,” one SSS source told PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday.

The revelation came as the SSS worked to consolidate evidence ahead of the arraignment of the judges arrested in a nationwide anti-corruption sweep between Friday and Saturday, officials said.

Seven judges were taken into custody after the raid conducted simultaneously in six-states, including Abuja.

Supreme Court judges, Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta were arrested in Abuja. Federal High Court judges, Adeniyi Ademola and Mohammed Tsamiya were also arrested in Abuja.

Others arrested included, Kabir Auta, Kano; Muazu Pindiga, Gombe; and Innocent Umezulike in Enugu.

The judges were released on Monday after initial plans to arraigned them stalled for reasons not disclosed by the secret police.

But PREMIUM TIMES gathered from sources at the agency’s headquarters on Wednesday afternoon that the jurists will start facing trial from next week.

The sources said the SSS had dispatched proofs of its allegations against the judges to the National Judicial Council for action.

“We have written the NJC about what has happened and we expect the NJC to take some decisions about the affected judges this week,” one source said. “Once that is done, hopefully by next week or thereabout, we should arraign them in court.”

The NJC is constitutionally charged with the task of investigating and sanctioning erring judges.

The agency hopes that the NJC members, led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed, will recommend sanctions against the judges based on the evidence of graft tendered against them.

The SSS said it found large sums of money, denominated in naira and other foreign currencies, from the judges’ homes during the raid.

If the NJC finds the evidence by the SSS sufficient, the judges could be dismissed, opening the way for security agencies to arrest and prosecute them.

“The ongoing investigation is not supposed to go beyond this week,” the sources said.

The sources said many Nigerians were supportive of the crackdown by flooding the SSS with damning petitions, with some who had been a victim of abuse of court processes expressing their willingness to testify against the judges.

The sources said the allegations contained fascinating facts that could go a long way in nailing the judges in the court of law.

“More facts are trickling in and we cannot ignore them. It is our statutory responsibility to investigate painstakingly every complaint.

“Some victims have even indicated their readiness to testify in court,” the sources said.

The sources said operatives also uncovered how some of the judges engaged in assets declaration fraud in the course of their investigation.

“The kind of things we observe as regards the forms they submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau is another kettle of fish.

“We discovered a judge filled three different forms with different information either in terms of assets declared or even personal information like age.

“Imagine one judge filling three different forms with different information just to deceive,” the source said.

The clampdown has continued to generate intense debate amongst Nigerians.

While some see the action of the SSS as a welcome development needed to address corruption in the country’s judiciary, others express concerns that the tactics employed by the agency amounts to intimidation and violates the principle of separation of powers.

DrRasheed:
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