Justice Adeniyi Ademola who was among the judges that were arrested and
detained last Saturday by agents of the Department of State Security,
says he was made to sign a confessional statement at the DSS office with
a gun pointed at him.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ademola
alleged that the sting operation carried out by DSS at his home in
Abuja, was a personal vendetta against him masterminded by the Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
According to Justice Ademola, Malami is trying to get
at him because while he was serving as a Federal judge in Kano between
2004-2008, he ordered the arrest of Malami for being involved in
professional misconduct. In the letter addressed to the CJN, Justice
Ademola stated that the DSS operatives held guns to his head to sign a
document detailing items allegedly found in his house as well as
confessional statements.
DSS in a statement released after the arrest of the seven judges in
various parts of the country, stated that it recovered over N362 million
during the operation. The arrest and detention involved two Supreme
Court justices, Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro, and two judges of the
Federal High Court, Ademola (Abuja Division) and Muazu Pindiga (Gombe
Division), was widely criticised.
Justice Ademola's letter to the CJN reads in part
“Contrary to media report being circulated, I have never confessed to
any crime or implicated anybody, including judges, in my statement
obtained from me by the DSS. What is more intriguing in this whole
episode is that I see it as a vendetta/revenge from the Hon. Attorney
General of the Federation, Abubakar Mallami, SAN, (who) whilst I was in
Kano between 2004 and 2008 as a Federal High Court judge was involved in
a professional misconduct necessitating his arrest and detention by my
order. However, with the intervention of the Nigerian Bar Association,
Kano Branch, the allegation of misconduct was later withdrawn by me.
Consequently, the National Judicial Council referred Abubakar Mallami to
the NBA Disciplinary Committee for disciplinary action. It was a result
of this he was denied the rank of SAN by the Legal Practitioners
Privileges Committee for the period of four years, until when he
produced a fake letter of apology, purportedly, addressed to me. It was
then he was conferred with the rank. Since the above incident, Abubakar
Mallami has threatened to revenge and swore to do anything to bring me
down. My Lord, with this infringement of my fundamental right, I seek
for the leave to commence an action against the DSS to encore my right
that was breached,” he stated.
Justice Ademola also alleged that he was arrested by the DSS because he
granted bail to former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and
also freed the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
“For and interest of my life, and unknown persons with mask on their
faces, I collected the written items and signed the document. Upon
signing the document, they told me that I am under arrest and ordered me
with guns still pointed at me to move outside. As I was going, they
told me they were taking me to their office, Department of State
Services office, without showing any warrant of arrest. I obeyed them
and about six o’clock in the morning, I was whisked away from my
residence to the DSS office without any warrant of arrest or reason for
my arrest. From the time of my arrival at the DSS office, at about
6:45am on 8/10/2016, I was not told what my crime was for over 24 hours
till the evening of 9/10/2016. A DSS official finally informed me that
the search of my house and arrest were based on these three allegations:
petition of Hon. Jenkins Duvie dated 4th of April 2016 to the National
Judicial Council; granting bail to Col. Sambo Dasuki and the
unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu; and using my office to secure my
wife’s appointment as the head of civil service through Senator Bola
Tinubu.”
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