The State Security Service raided the homes of some senior Nigerian
judges late Friday and early Saturday to gather evidence of corruption,
officials have told PREMIUM TIMES.
The raids on multiple residences in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe,
Kano, Enugu and Sokoto, were not aimed at arresting the judges, they
said.
An official said the operation was ordered after months of
investigations, during which the secret police established credibly that
the affected judges were involved in questionable financial dealings.
The SSS initially submitted parts of its findings to the regulatory body, the National Judicial Council.
Officials said the SSS moved in after the council merely recommended two of the judges for retirement, and not prosecution.
The council also refused to cooperate with the SSS as the agency launched wider investigations into the cases for more evidence.
The source explained that judges whose homes were raided include
Adeniyi Ademola, and Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja as
well as Sylvester Ngwuta and John Okoro of the Supreme Court.
In Kano, the source said the home of a high court judge, Kabiru Auta,
was raided along with another residence in Enugu belonging to the Chief
Judge of the state, A. I. Umezulike.
The two judges were earlier recommended for retirement recently by the NJC.
The residences of a Gombe State judge, Muazu Pindiga, as well as that
of his counterpart from Sokoto state, Justice Samia, were also raided
during the operation.
Our source said during the search, documents linking Mr. Ngwuta or Okoro to estates worth over N1.5 billion were recovered.
At the residence of Mr. Ademola, the SSS recovered at least $400, 000
and N39 million in cash, in addition to documents of landed properties
belonging to the federal judge.
The raid at Justice Mohammed Liman’s residence in Port Harcourt, our
sources said, was ordered to allow operatives search the house because
he was believed to be in possession of $2 million.
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