Human Rights Commission To Probe Invasion Of Judges’ Homes

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is on the verge of commencing

Prof. Ben Angwe

investigation into the recent invasion of homes and arrests of some judicial officers across the country by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS). The Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Ben Angwe made this known when he spoke in Abuja yesterday while addressing a coalition of Lawyers in Defence of Democracy (LDD) and a non-governmental organisation, Citizens for Good Governance (CGG), also assured that the NHRC would neither be partial nor take orders from any quarters in the course of carrying out the investigation. The coalition had marched to the commission’s headquarters in Maitama district of Abuja in protest of what they described as “revenge operation” against the Judiciary by the secret police. He noted that NHRC had before now been waiting for petitions from the public on the alleged arrest of the judges and violation of their human rights but did not receive any. He further stated that now that a formal petition had been submitted to the human rights body, it would not hesitate to go into a comprehensive probe of the matter in order to unravel what actually transpired between the security operatives and the affected judges. The protesters also stormed the Federal High Court headquarters in the nation’s capital and terminated peaceful protest at the National Assembly, to protest the call on judges whose homes were raided by the DSS to step aside from office. Earlier before the protest kick-started, the convener of the coalition, Barrister Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, addressed journalists, saying that heeding to the call on the embattled Judges to step down was a victory for tyranny and gradual return to what he called “Kokomo democracy.” He condemned DSS continuous detention of Nigerians who had been granted bail conditions by the courts, noting that continued detaining of such persons was an affront on the authority of the Judiciary. He also described their detention as dictatorial and desecration of the fundamental democratic principle of Separation powers, stressing that the Executive could not be a prosecutor and Judge at the same time. The Protesters called on the National Judicial Council (NJC), and the Chief Justice of Nigeria to direct all Judges in the country not to hear any application from the DSS and other agencies of government except bail applications until there was obedience to all pending orders against them, saying, “what use are the courts if their orders cannot be enforced and obeyed by the state”. The groups implored the UN, US, National Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International and indeed the International Community to immediately call the Buhari-led government to order and halt the present attempt to derail Nigeria’s hard earned democracy. The group further observed that the National Judicial Council was a creation of the constitution with its inherent powers, and that the DSS ought to have recognized such vital roles of the Council. It said that, in the exercise of its constitutional function, the NJC had within the last five years sanctioned at least 70 judicial officers in addition to taking other innovative steps at combating corruption “There should have been no need for the deliberate misinformation to the public that the invasion of the judges’ homes were due to the uncooperative stance of the NJC. Make no mistake about it, the attack on Justice Dimgba, Ademola, Ngwuta, Inyang-Okoro, Liman was a revenge operation not a fight against corruption”, Ugochinyere stated. He alleged that the affected lawyers were attacked by the DSS because of the various judgements they had delivered, contrary to the whims and caprices of the government or its agencies. He said, “is Justice Ngwuta’s sin not his lead judgment in the Ekiti Governorship election which the ruling party wanted at all cost? “Is Justice Adeniyi Ademola’s sin not his stand on the events that happened between him and the Honourable Attorney General when he was a Judge in the Kano Division of the Federal High Court or his orders in the cases of Sambo Dasuki, Nnamdi Kanu, President Buhari’s certificate saga and the orders he made on the attack date of October 7th against the DSS awarding a total of N30miliion as human rights violation compensation to two complainants……among others similar cases,” he said.