GOVERNMENT ministers have shunned the National Judiciary Council's (NJC) plea to allow it deal with the natter of corruption within the judiciary and pressed ahead with a decision to bring seven suspected corrupt judges to justice.
Last weekend, Department of State Services (DSS) operatives arrested Supreme Court judges Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro after their homes were raided. Armed masked DSS operatives also raided the residences of judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Gombe and Port Harcourt, as part of what the government describes as it clampdown on corruption within the judiciary.
Unhappy with what it sees as executive interference in judicial matters, the NJC had asked that all issues relating to corruption among judges should be left to it to deal with. However, the government has rejected this plea and will be pressing ahead with its decision to bring the seven suspected corrupt judges to justice.
These seven judges are among the 15 already identified by the DSS and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), although the other eight are yet to be named and invited for questioning. Claiming to have omnibus powers over both criminal and administrative matters relating to judges in Nigeria, the NJC disregarded the presidency’s directive to suspend the suspected corrupt judicial officers from duty, pending the trial and disposal of the criminal allegations levelled against them.
In addition, the NJC slammed the DSS for daring to search the homes of the judges in the night and making away with huge cash in local and foreign currencies. Although none of the suspects denied keeping the huge cash in their homes, the NJC was silent on the propriety of the discovery of the money in the homes of the judges but disparaged the DSS for the raid, which it claimed was intended to cow the judges from doing their jobs.
In a brazen move to get at both the NJC and the suspects, who have tried to blame key ministers in the Buhari administration for their ordeal, the federal government, last night, formally approved the prosecution of the suspects with immediate effect. One top presidency official confirmed that the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation had approved the immediate prosecution of the suspects so as not to give the erroneous impression that the government was promoting corruption.
He added that the trial of the suspects would be carried out in phases and handled by the National Prosecution Council, which was recently inaugurated. Furthermore, the source said that the refusal of the NJC to suspend the suspected judges was interpreted as a slap on the presidency and that no country would allow a few people to constitute themselves into a cabal that is above the law.
“I can tell you that the National Prosecution Council will lead the prosecution of the suspects, while the director of public prosecution in the Federal Ministry of Justice will coordinate the team. The federal government is not deterred by the refusal of the NJC to suspend the suspects from office,” the source added.
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