‘No justification for gestapo-style raid on judges’

The way officials of the Department of State Security (DSS) raided residences of some supreme and federal high court judges cannot be justified, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr Abiodun Layonu, has said.  Speaking with the Daily Trust in Abuja, Layonu, who said that no one was above the law of the land, argued […]

The way officials of the Department of State Security (DSS) raided residences of some supreme and federal high court judges cannot be justified, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr Abiodun Layonu, has said.
 Speaking with the Daily Trust in Abuja, Layonu, who said that no one was above the law of the land, argued that the judges were not decently treated.
 The judges shouldn’t have been treated like violent criminals, he said.
 
He said: “This is high-handedness and no matter the allegations against these honourable members of the bench, there cannot be any justification for this raid and abduction.
 “I find it very strange and I believe it’s unnecessary and on the extreme side for these steps to be taken. And I believe that such cannot happen without approval from high places.”
 Security operatives, weekend, raided the Abuja residence of Justices Sylvester Ngwuta, John Inyang Okoro of the Supreme Court, and whisked them away.
 They also picked Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, at his Apo Legislative Quarters home and searched the house of another Abuja Federal High Court Judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba.
In Gombe, the operatives whisked away Justice Mu’azu Pindiga of the state’s high court.
 The DSS had said it raided the homes of justices of the Supreme Court and judges of high courts over allegations of “corruption” and “professional misconduct.”