You must have heard the news of various Nigerian judges arrested all over the country.The most famous case being in Port Harcourt Rivers state where Governor Wike claimed he was assaulted by the DSS and Police while trying to prevent the arrest of a judge.
Now for most people or most Nigerians should i say,the first thing that comes to mind is the question of if these arrests were carried out in a lawful way?
But after seeing some of the evidence recovered allegedly from the judges,i ask myself,is this a necessary evil?We all know how deep corruption has eaten into the Nigerian system of government.This has been going on for decades.
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| A broken into property of a Nigerian judge,Justice Ademola. |
That's the main question here.But while you are pondering ove rthat question and thought,see what the Department of State Services (DSS) has to say on the matter.
They explained that the judges of the Supreme, Appeal and High Courts it arrested in the past few days were found to possess huge sums of raw cash at home and own choice properties. The DSS, which claimed to have carried out special sting operations on the judges, made the explanation in a statement circulated to the media. According to the statement, signed by Abdullahi Garba, the operations leading to the arrest of the judges were informed by allegations of corruption and other acts of professional misconduct by a few of the suspected judges, who are alleged to be living ostentatiously.
The DSS maintained that the operations constitute a part of its mandate. "The Service action is in line with its core mandate, as we have been monitoring the expensive and luxurious lifestyle of some of the judges as well as complaints from the concerned public over judgment obtained fraudulently and on the basis amounts of money paid," the statement explained. Continue..
The judges involved, added the statement, were invited for interrogation, following which their residences were searched. The searches, the statement further said, uncovered huge amounts of raw cash in various denominations as well as in local and foreign currencies. The judges, DSS also alleged, own real estate worth several millions of naira. The ownership of the real estate, said the DSS, was confirmed by documents. The directorate disclosed that some of the judges have made useful statements, with a few declining even in the face of allegedly glaring evidence against them in terms of cash, documents and property recovered.
"In one of the states where the Service operations were conducted, credible intelligence revealed that the judge had $2million stashed in his house. When he was approached for due search to be conducted, he, in concert, with the state governor, mobilized thugs against the Service team. The team restrained itself in the face of unbridled provocative activities by those brought in by the Governor. Unfortunately, the judge and governor also engaged the tacit support of a sister security agency," said the DSS.
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The summary of cash recovered, revealed the DSS, included N93.6million, $530,087, £25,970 and €5,680. There were allegedly recovered from three judges. Other foreign currencies, revealed the DSS, were also recovered in addition to other banking documents, including real estate documents. The DSS, revealed the statement, is already preparing to arraign the judges before a competent court.
So once again,are we fighting something much deeper here and if necessary we should break laws to put the law right?A tough one,but i think anything needed to be done to curb corruption in Nigeria should be done as long as those that face the music are indeed guilty and not framed.
Source: SaharaReporters