More judges face the prospect of arrest as petitions flood into anti-graft agencies

SEVERAL more high court judges face the prospect of being arrested over the coming days as petitions against the conduct of many of them have been flooding into anti-graft agencies this week following the arrest of two justices over the weekend.

 

On Saturday, 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.

 

Although the arrest has sparked outrage among the judiciary and attracted the chagrin of the Nigerian Bar Association, it appears to be popular with members of the public. Consequently, several more petitions against the embattled judges have continued to trickle in and it is believed that the affected judges would be charged to court next week.

 

One DSS official said: “We are almost through with the investigation as the ongoing investigation is not supposed to go beyond this week. We have written to the Nigerian Judicial Council about what has happened and we expect it to take some decisions about the affected judges this week.

 

“Once that is done, hopefully by next week or thereabout, we should arraign them in court. For now, more facts in the form of petitions are trickling in about the judges."

 

He added that some victims had even indicated their readiness to testify in court against the accused judges. According to the DSS, the properties owned by the arrested judges are also being investigated and compared with what they declared.

 

“The kind of things we have observed as regards the forms they submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) is another kettle of fish. We discovered a judge who 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 CCB. Just as I said, we will do a thorough job,” he added.

 

While several Nigerians and institutions have vehemently condemned the arrest of the judges, others including presidency, the attorney-general of the federation and justice minister Abubakar Malami, have justified the arrests. Mr Malami said no one was immune from investigation under the law.