By James Orji
There appears no end to the harassment of judges in the country under the President Muhamamdu Buhari administration, following the raid on Friday, on the Abuja home of Honourable Justice Mary Odili, a justice of the Supreme Court, by security operatives led by officials of the Nigerian Police Force, NPF Odili is the wife of a former Governor of Rivers state, Peter Odili
The former governor has been on the watchlist of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and recently had his international passport returned to him by the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIM following a court order to that effect.
It was learnt that the security operatives involved in the operation came with a search warrant and were made up of soldiers and officers of the Nigeria Police Force, NPF
The Source magazine has yet to ascertain why the search was conducted as Justice Odili has not been accused of any offence, neither is she under the investigation of anti-graft agencies. But, sources said the search may not be unconnected with the problem that her husband is having with the EFCC.
But the EFCC said in a statement that it did not carry out the operation.
“The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to claims in a section of the media that operatives of the Commission today, October 29, 2021 stormed the Maitama, Abuja home of a Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Mary Odili, purportedly to execute a search,” Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC spokesman, said in a statement.
“The Commission by this statement wishes to inform the public that the report is false as it did not carry out any operation at the home of Justice Odili.
“If there was any such operation as claimed by the media, it was not carried out by the EFCC. The Commission enjoins the public to discountenance the report,” the anti-graft agency said.
This is not the first time security operatives have ransacked home of judges since President Buhari came to power in 2015.
In 2017, the Department of State Service, DSS conducted multiple raids on residences of judges in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe, Kano, Enugu and Sokoto.
Judges whose homes were raided at the time include Adeniyi Ademola, and Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja as well as Sylvester Ngwuta and John Okoro of the Supreme Court.
Also, the Kano home of a high court judge, Kabiru Auta, was raided along with another residence in Enugu belonging to the Chief Judge of the state, A. I. Umezulike.
