Justice Odili: How I was Threatened To Be Dealt With – ASP Madaki

By Adesina Soyooye

For aborting the illegal invasion of the residence of the Hon. Justice Mary Peter-Odili, a Justice of the Supreme Court, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Madaki Chidawa, was threatened to be dealt with by a ‘Chief Superintendent of Police.’

22 suspects were indicted for the invasion of the Justice’s home on October 29, 2021 – an invasion which embarrassed the nation, and sparked angry reactions from everywhere. Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, had described it as an assassination attempt, a position taken, almost, by an angry Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Tanko.

Out of the 22 suspects, 15 are standing trial, while seven, including two soldiers, are are still at large. They are being prosecuted by the Inspector General of Police.

At the resumed hearing of the case before the Hon. Justice Nkeonye Evelyn Maha, of an Abuja High Court, ASP Madaki, a witness for the prosecution, who was at the scene of the incident, said he aborted the invasion by insisting, when he looked at the search warrant, that they were at the wrong address.

Madaki said that when he met them, they said they were a team from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and Assets  Recovery  attached to the Ministry of Justice. On seeing the search warrant, however,  he noticed that the address on it was number 9 Imo River while Justice Peter-Odili’s house is No 7. When he drew their attention to it, he said the leader of the team,  CSP Lawrence Ajodo, insisted on carrying out the search.  He added that when he looked at the CSP’s identity card, it looked suspicious.

At that juncture, he went and alerted Justice Peter-Odili who, he said, made some phone calls which finally aborted the invasion.

Madaki said before the invaders left, CSP Ajodo, now confirmed to be fake, threatened to deal with him when he comes back with a reinforcement. They never did.

The Court adjourned hearing to March 1, 2021, after it granted three of the suspects, including Ajodo, bail to the tune of N5m, each. The others were granted bail during the last sitting.