The House of Representatives’ has condemned the invasion of the home of a Justice of the Supreme Court, Mary Peter-Odili, by security operatives and officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
Chairman of the committee, Onofiok Luke, in a statement issued on Sunday in reaction to the invasion, noted that the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), would have to explain the circumstances surrounding the incident.
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Luke also reechoed the calls by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Tanko Muhammad, that judicial officers should be cautious of the orders being issued by their courts.
The statement was titled ‘The siege at Justice Peter-Odili’s residence: A repudiation of judicial independence and an assault on the sanctity on the nation’s judiciary’.
Speaking on the development, Luke said: “It is mind boggling that in the dusk of 29 October 2021, the judiciary was once again exposed to public opprobrium due to the uncanny manner in which the residence of the Honourable Justice Mary Peter-Odili of the Supreme Court of Nigeria was invaded by law enforcement officials purportedly on an assignment to execute a search warrant issued by a magistrate.”
“Also disturbing is the fact that the said warrant was revoked by the issuing magistrate who had discovered that it was procured by the applicant on the premises of misrepresented facts.
“As a committee currently interfacing with the judiciary for an improved judicial reform and justice system.”
“We wish to lend our voice once again to the repeated call by His Lordship, the Honourable Justice Tanko Muhammed, CJN, on all Judicial officers on the need to exercise more caution in issuing ex-parte, conflicting and questionable orders that are capable of bringing disrepute to our Justice system.”
The lawmaker stated that it was an unfortunate development and a wake-up call to tighten administrative and supervisory control over the operations of law enforcement agencies in the country.
He said, “To this end, we empathise with the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation who is constitutionally accountable for the actions and inaction of the law enforcement agents that purportedly executed the said warrant, placing on the AGF the unavoidable burden of defending his office before the populace.
“On this note, the House of Representative Committee on the judiciary calls for a discreet investigation to unravel the persons behind this ignoble act, which is capable of straining the existing relationship between the judiciary and the executive arms of our democratic government.”
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According to Luke, the siege is reminiscent of the 2016 incident where, in the beat of the night, security agencies invaded private residences of judicial officers.
