Services (DSS), taking the number of judges so far picked up to nine.
were arrested in Kaduna and taken to the DSS Headquarters in Abuja at
about 8.30pm.
the judges under investigation.In some of the accounts are “huge
lodgments”, a source said yesterday.
petitioners, it was learnt, are willing to testify against them.
arraigned in court next week because the DSS has set a deadline in order
not to extend the investigation of the judges beyond this week.All of
them are to face trial, the source said.
“Some accounts have been frozen through orders of the court. This
affects some of the judges. Not all of them.“We found some huge
lodgements that are questionable in some accounts and in addition to
that we also observed the inflow of their salaries over a long period
without them making any withdrawal at all.“What that means is that they
don’t live on their salaries at all. Those accounts have been frozen but
as I said not all of the judges are affected.”
“We are waiting for the action of the NJC. We expect the NJC to suspend
them, otherwise it’s like taking a sitting judge to court.
“In the
Service, when anybody is being investigated for any serious crime, the
first thing we do is to place such a person on suspension.
“After the
investigation, such a person would face trial and get dismissed from
service on conviction and later face prosecution in the law court.”
“The NJC does not have the luxury not to suspend them.“We wrote the NJC on Monday but we haven’t received any response.”
accord the seven judges arrested at the weekend the desired respect
before their arrest and while they were in custody.
“Justice Ademola Adeniyi requested that his lawyer should be present before his residence could be searched.
“The
counsel came, examined the search warrant and confirmed the validity of
the warrant. He thereafter asked the judge to cooperate with the DSS
team.
“Some of the judges also allowed their lawyers to witness the search of their homes.”
Under probe are two Supreme Court 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).
The Nation
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