The Supreme Court has reacted to the October 29 invasion on Justice Mary Odili’s residence saying the attack which depicted a gory picture of war by armed persons suspected to be security operatives representing government agencies, was questionable and baseless.
In a statement on Tuesday by the apex court’s Director of Press and information, Dr Akande Festus, the court said the invasion brought back the painful memory of the October 2016 midnight invasion of the homes of some respected Justices in Nigeria.
Mr Akande who described the attack as uncivilized and a shameful show of primitive force on an innocent judicial officer, called on the Inspector-General of Police to rise up to the occasion and carry out a discreet investigation aimed at bringing the perpetrators to justice as quickly as possible.
What the Supreme Court is saying
The statement by the Supreme Court reads:
“We are alarmed by the news of the unwarranted and despicable raid on the official residence of one of our senior Justices in the Supreme Court, Hon. Justice Mary Peter Odili, on Friday 29 October, 2021, in a Gestapo manner.
“The attack, unfortunately, depicted a gory picture of war by some armed persons suspected to be security operatives representing different agencies of government who seemed to have come to kill and maim their target under the guise of undertaking a search whose warrant was questionable and baseless.
“We are deeply saddened and taken aback by this uncivilised and shameful show of force on an innocent judicial officer that has spent several years of her productive life serving the country she calls her own.
“This incident brought back, rather painfully, the ugly memory of the October 2016 midnight invasion of the homes of our respected justices with no satisfactory explanations as to the true motive behind such brazen assault on our collective sensibility.
“We wish to make it abundantly clear that the Nigerian Judiciary is the third arm of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and should be respected and treated as such.
“We have had a full dosage of this fusillade of unwarranted and unprovoked attacks on our judicial officers, and even our facilities across the country, and we say, enough is enough.
“The judiciary should never be construed by any individual or institution of government as the arm of government that must always be chastised and ridiculed into silence because of our conservative disposition.
“Though there have emerged discordant tunes from the various security agencies that allegedly participated in the dastardly act, we are not lying low on this dehumanizing treatment meted out to one of our own.
“We have commenced a full-scale independent investigation to unravel the true masquerades behind the mystery as well as the real motives behind the whole incident.”
In case you missed it
Nairametrics reported earlier that the House of Reps Committee on Judiciary slammed the alleged raid on Justice Mary Odili’s home by security operatives and called for investigations to unravel the persons behind the act.
Nairametrics also reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) revealed that it did not raid the home of Justice Mary Odili, as earlier reported by the media.
Nairametrics reported that Human Rights Commission condemned the invasion of the Justice’s home and called for the arrest of the perpetrators.
What you should know
Justice Mary Odili is a senior justice of the Supreme Court.
In October 2016, security operatives raided the homes of some senior Nigerian judges in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe, Kano, Enugu and Sokoto.
