*Insists judiciary not weeping child among 3 arms of government
*Considers operatives’ action as attempt to kill Jus Odili
*Says attack shameful, displays of primitive force on innocent judicial officer
*Demands independent, thorough probe of incident
The Supreme Court on Tuesday broke its silence over the alleged unlawful invasion of Abuja residence of Justice of Supreme Court (JSC), Justice Mary Odili by unknown security operatives.
The apex court also expressed worry that the security operatives that invaded the residence of one of its Justices, Mary Odili, last Friday, seemed to have been on a mission to maim and kill the JSC under the guise of executing a search warrant which it described as questionable and baseless.
In a statement signed by its Director of Press and Information, Dr Akande Festus and made available to Theideal last night, the Supreme Court said the invasion of Justice Odili, the second highest ranking jurist of the Supreme Court, was an “impunity taking too far”.
The apex court also warned that the judiciary should not be misconstrued by any individual or institution of government as the weeping child among the three arms of government.
It added that the attack was “uncivilized and shameful” show of primitive force on innocent judicial officer.
The statement reads in part, “We are alarmed with the news of the unwarranted and despicable raid on the official residence of one of our senior justices in the Supreme Court, Justice Mary Peter Odili on Friday in a gestapo manner.
“The attack unfortunately depicted a gory picture of war by some armed persons suspected to be security operatives representing different agencies of government who seemed to have come to kill and maim their target under the guise of undertaking a search whose warrant was questionable and baseless.
“We are deeply saddened and taken aback by this uncivilized and shameful show of primitive force on an innocent judicial officer that has so far spent several years of her productive life serving the country she calls her own.
“This incident brought back, rather painfully, the ugly memory of the October 2016 midnight invasion of the homes of our respected justices with no satisfactory explanations as to the true motive behind such brazen assault on our collective sensibility.
“We wish to make it abundantly clear that the Nigerian Judiciary is the third arm of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and should be respected and treated as such.
“We have had a full dosage of this fusillade of unwarranted and unprovoked attacks on our judicial officers and even facilities across the country and we say it loudly now that enough is enough.”
On the supremacy of the judiciary as the third arm of government, the Supreme Court said, “The judiciary should never be misconstrued by any individual or institution of government as the weeping child among the three arms of government that must always be chastised and ridiculed to silence because of our conservative disposition.
“Though there have emerged discordant tunes from the various security agencies that allegedly participated in the dastardly act, we are not lying low on this dehumanizing treatment meted out to one of our own.
“We have commenced a full-scale independent investigation to unravel the true masquerades behind the mystery as well as the real motives behind the whole imbroglio.”
Asking the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Usman Alkali Baba, to do the needful on the matter, the Supreme Court said, “Similarly, we call on the Inspector General of Police of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to rise up to the occasion by carrying out a discreet investigation and make his findings known to the Nigerian public with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice as quickly as possible”.
