One of the Judges arrested by men of the Department of State Service, DSS, was reported to have begged the DSS boss, Mr. Lawan Daura after he was confronted with evidence exposing his stash of more than N500 million bribe.
According to The Nation, the judge when confronted refused to unlock his safe for the men of the DSS to access its contents.
Another of the arrested judges was reported to have obtained a loan from one of Nigeria’s commercial banks on order to finance a project in Bauchi State. A legal action was however initiated against him at the Federal High Court in Bauchi following his inability to pay the borrowed sum.
Investigations further revealed that the judgess affected by the DSS’ sting operation had been under surveillance by the agency for the past one year.
The DSS has taken further steps to invite and interrogate bank officials in order to make connections as it has begun thorough grilling of seven detained judges.
The judges in the DSS’ detention are two Supreme Court Justices – Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro; – the suspended Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, Justice Mohammed Ladan Tsamiya, who was picked up in Sokoto; Justice Adeniyi Ademola (Federal High Court); the Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice I. A. Umezulike; Justice Kabiru Auta of Kano State High Court; and Justice Muazu Pindiga (Gombe State High Court).
A source further revealed: “Corruption in the Judiciary was based on our intelligence gathering and alerts from informants and petitions. It is not based on the perception of Nigerians. We have been on the trail of some of these judges in the last few months.
“For instance, we started probing one of the seven judges in detention since the Ramadan period of 2015. When we got sufficient intelligence on him, bordering on over N500million bribe, we invited him.
“The judge was given a copy of our report on him. By the time he read it halfway, he prostrated, held the legs of the security chief and begged for forgiveness. We captured the way he was reeling on the floor.
The source further added: “We later sent a security brief on him to the National Judicial Council (NJC) with enough evidence. But he was cleared by the NJC as having committed no wrong. Since the NJC could not do the needful, we have decided to subject him to a judicial process.
“We also have a case of one of the judges who refused to unlock a safe in his house when our operatives went to his house. We may actually secure the leave of the court to relocate the safe to Abuja.
“Another detained judge got a contract from Bauchi State Government and obtained a loan from a bank. But when he defaulted in paying back the facility, the bank filed an action against him before the Federal High Court in Bauchi. What is the business of a judge with contract?”
Revealing the DSS’ continuous plan to probe more judges and exposing how some of the detained judges stashed their loot, another source said: “We are digging more and getting fresh revelations from these judges. For instance, a Federal High Court judge in detention actually spread the N54million and $171,779 recovered from his residence in different rooms. He kept them in different parts of the rooms like a thief.”
Addressing the media uproar as regards the conduct of the sting operation, the source continued: “Some individuals have been bigger than Nigeria. If you are looking for one or two, go to the Judiciary.
“The DSS mandate is to look into anything that is detrimental to Nigeria’s national security interest and to prevent it.
“There is no immunity conferred on judges, we are only duty bound to protect the court because it is a sacred place, a temple of justice. Once you have issues, you go to court but immediately a judge is outside the court, he or she is like you and me.
“There is nothing unusual about the arrest of judges other than it has not been the practice. But it is normal. Once a petition is lodged, it is normal that you just have to look into it as a security agency.”