While
one of the judges just acquired a N1.5billion mansion, another
allegedly collected bribe in a department store and one allegedly
crossed the borders to Benin Republic, Niger Republic and Ghana to
collect money. A Court of Appeal judge
allegedly collected N200million but he was only recommended for
retirement and the NJC directed him to refund the cash installmentally.
The
detained judges include two Supreme Court judges-Justices Sylvester
Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro; the suspended Presiding Justice of the Court of
Appeal, Ilorin Division, Justice Mohammed Ladan Tsamiya, who was picked
up in Sokoto; Justice Adeniyi Ademola( Federal High Court); the Chief
Judge of Enugu State, Justice I. A. Umezulike; Justice Kabiru Auta of
Kano State High Court; and Justice Muazu Pindiga( Gombe State High
Court).
An
agent of the DSS who spoke inconfident said “I think so far, about
seven judges have been detained but altogether 15 judges are under
investigations. We still have about eight others already being probed.
There may be one or two Supreme Court Justices among the remaining
eight. The DSS has also invited three
registry staff of some courts, who probably played some roles in the
bribery saga, for questioning.”
Asked
of the welfare of their Lordships, the source said: “We have treated
the seven judges in custody with utmost respect, decency, they are not
treated like criminals at all. Their interrogation does not last more
than two hours and they are given meals of their fancy. The
judges are being detained. They need to fill some forms. Also, if they
had answered our questions, they would have been released under one
hour. Some of these judges have
made statements to our team. We have also shown them some evidence in
order to show that the DSS was tidier in in its probe.”
The source continued said:
“A Supreme Court Justice has a property worth N1.5billion. If not DSS,
which other agency will unravel this? Are you expecting the police to
take on these judges? Another
Supreme Court justice credited everything to his son. If the son started
earning a living from the day he was born( assuming he was earning
N1million), he cannot be able to earn one quarter of what he is claiming
to have. We said it is very simple, tell us the business or the work you have done to have been able to earn so much. A
judge entered a department store not to buy anything but to collect
bribe, inside a supermarket from a go-between. Unknown to the judge and
the collector, there are cameras in the store. The video clip is there. Another
judge under probe has perfected the art of being a bribe collector on
behalf of others. He is notorious in crossing the borders to Benin
Republic, Niger Republic and Ghana. We know some of the hotels where he
used to lodge.”
The
source went on: “We have the case of a judge who issued bail conditions
to an accused person but the conditions were not met and the suspect
was released. After the court session, the accused person sent word to
the judge that he could not meet the conditions but take this amount to
set me free. Of course, the judge did
not act alone; the court clerk, the bailiff and the Registrar were
involved. The DSS knew all that transpired, the amount involved and who
took what. When we confronted the Registrar to give us the details of
how the bail conditions were met, there was no single evidence. The
judge in Port Harcourt is under probe for about $2.5million. Out of
that amount, $500,000 was moved elsewhere and we know where it went. They
mobilised thugs because the recovery of the remaining $2million will be
a lead that will open a can of worms. That face-off was used to remove
the money. We are tracking the money, we already have the idea of where
the $2million was hidden. We will get it. Governor
Nyesom Wike’s fear was that once that money was taken, the judge must
account. So, there was need to cover up. The judge exposed himself by
bringing Wike into the investigation and he has made his case worse. The
question is: Why was Wike at the judge’s house? Is the judge’s house a
government house? How can a governor be in that place at that hour? The judge gave a ruling on the PDP crisis by legitimising the illegitimate for a purpose.”
On
the alleged planting of recovered cash in the judges’ quarters, the
source said: “The DSS did not do anything like that. In fact, the judges
signed for items recovered from their residences. If you crosscheck, the operation was spontaneous and simultaneous in the judges’ quarters. It started between 10.30pm and 11pm on Friday
night. It was painstaking and professionally conducted. Technically
speaking, the DSS gave the time and the cameras used for the operation
were digitalised. The search was
conducted in the presence of the owners of the houses. There was no
molestation, no harassment. We don’t need to plant money in anybody’s
house because we have all subscribed to the oath of office. In an era
where the government is trying to be fair, we don’t need to do that. There
was search warrant duly obtained from the court. The execution of a
search warrant does not require the presence of a lawyer. Even at that,
one of the judges invited his lawyer who examined the warrant and asked
him to cooperate with the DSS operatives.”
Responding
to a question, the source said: “The DSS is in custody of some audio
and video tapes of some of these judges. By the time we start running
these tapes, Nigerians will appreciate that we have done a good job. The
DSS did not just jump into investigation, it received petitions on
these judges on how they literally took money. The worst aspect is that
they took money with both hands. Some
of these things were becoming disturbing and people were bringing facts
and figures. We went to verify these. If a judge builds a house, it is
easier to discover because he might have bought the land from an
individual or an agency or estate agent. There is no way you can cover
up all these things.”
Concerning
why the DSS stormed the official quarters of the judges, the source
added that the poor cooperation of the NJC accounted for it.”
He
spoke of how the DSS decided to go through the NJC to invite the judges
for investigation “in a less dramatic way”. Correspondences were
exchanged between the NJC and the Federal Ministry of Justice for
certain information and dossier. The Ministry of Justice complied but
the NJC refused, he claimed.
“We
wanted to intervene in a less dramatic way. In fact,MIT was our wish,
it would have been seamless. But it did not work that way. In
the last two weeks, the NJC submitted the names of three judges for
sanctions. By what the NJC told the press, one of the judges, Justice
Mohammed Ladan Tsamiya, only demanded N200million from a litigant, but
the DSS discovered that he took the money. The
NJC asked the Appeal Court Justice to be paying back the N200million
instalmentallly. Is that punishment proportionate to the offence? The
NJC went ahead to give such a judge soft landing. That in itself is
corruption. Other officers were
to be retired. Then, what happens to the proceeds of the crimes
committed? How is that action going to stop corruption? Notwithstanding,
DSS is working with everybody. We are in touch with NJC. Even today,
we exchanged correspondence with the NJC. We don’t personalize issues. For
record purpose, NJC is not a court of law; it is an institutional
disciplinary body which ought to collaborate with security and
anti-graft agencies.”
The
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has criticized the arrests, saying the
judges should be released. The source faulted the NBA’s reaction,
stressing that the cleansing of the Judiciary was not peculiar to
Nigeria. I think there is nothing like
tension; whoever tries to provoke national insecurity will be dealt with
according to the law of the land. There
is nobody that is above the law. In Ghana, 32 senior judges and over 20
magistrates were sent out if the bench because of corruption. Did the
Ghana Bar Association threaten to shut down the courts?”
Asked
if the DSS will respect court orders to release the judges when
arraigned, the source said: “If it is an order, we will respect the
court and release them.”
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