The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, yesterday, summoned the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, over the arrest of seven superior court judges by the Department of State Service, DSS.
The umbrella body of legal practitioners in the country, said it was concerned that the DSS arrested two justices of the Supreme Court, Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta, despite the fact that no petition or complaint was previously lodged against them from any quarter.
A high powered delegation of the association, comprising two former Attorneys-General, Kanu Agabi, SAN, Akin Olujimi, SAN, and former Minister of Defence, Adetokunbo Kayode, SAN, met Malami behind closed doors at the NBA secretariat in Abuja. In attendance at the meeting included former national leaders of the association.
Meanwhile, briefing newsmen after the meeting, NBA President, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, said the body formally lodged its displeasure over the “illegal conduct” of the DSS to the AGF. He said the NBA, restated to the AGF its earlier position that the manner of arrest of the judges was illegal and unconstitutional and called on the Federal Government to restrict operations of the DSS to its statutory duties which is the maintenance of internal security.
Mahmoud said at the end of the meeting, it was agreed that NBA should expand a crisis management committee it earlier constituted to monitor the situation pertaining to the embattled Judges. The committee is co-chaired by two former NBA presidents, Chief Wole Olanikpekun, SAN, and Chief Olisa Agbakoba, SAN. Meantime, responding to questions from newsmen, Mahmoud, said it was absurd that people accused NBA of attempting to shield corrupt judges.
He said the body was only determined to ensure that the ongoing war against corruption was fought within the ambit of the law. While insisting that it was not the statutory responsibility of the DSS to investigate corruption related cases, the NBA leader decried that the arrested Judges were treated like terrorists. He noted that five of the arrested judges had already been probed and sanctioned by the National Judicial Council, NJC.
He said the NJC had between 2000 and September 2016, handled and decided 73 cases involving judges. On the arrested apex court justices, Mahmoud said: “According to what we heard, certain judges were earmarked by the DSS in what it called sting operations. “However, there is no evidence that the two Supreme Court Justices were ever invited or that there was any petition against them. That was what we got from the NJC and we have no reason to doubt the information.
“We were informed that there was no formal complaint against them before the said sting operation. “Judges are, of course, subject to the law of the land, but complaints against them should be brought to the NJC. Once they are removed, then the full weight of the law can descend on them. “The key pillar of democracy is the independence of the judiciary. It is not something we are prepared to surrender.”
No comments:
Post a Comment