Reps Judiciary Committee Condemn Alleged Raid On Justice Odili’s Home

The House of Reps Committee on Judiciary has condemned the alleged raid on Justice Mary Odili’s home by security operatives.

The committee also called for an investigation to unravel the persons behind the act.

This was disclosed by the committee chairman, Rep. Luke Onofiok (PDP-Akwa Ibom), in a statement on Sunday, in Abuja.

He stated that the raid was an attack on Nigeria’s Judiciary and wondered how the judiciary could once again be exposed to such ridicule.

Onofiok said, “It is mind-boggling that at dusk on Oct. 29, 2021, the Judiciary was once again exposed to public opprobrium.

“This is due to the uncanny manner in which the residence of Justice Mary Peter-Odili of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, was invaded by law enforcement officials, purportedly on an assignment to execute a search warrant, issued by a Magistrate.”

Further, he said that it was disturbing to realise that the said warrant was revoked by the issuing Magistrate, who had discovered that it was procured by the applicant on the premise of misrepresented facts.

“As a committee, we are currently interfacing with the Judiciary for judicial reforms and improved justice system.

“We wish to lend our voice once again, to the repeated call by His Lordship; the Honourable Justice Tanko Muhammed, CJN, on all Judicial officers on the need to exercise caution in issuing ex-parte, conflicting and questionable orders that are capable of bringing disrepute to our Justice system,” he said.

He urged for more policies to reform Nigeria’s administrative and supervisory control over the operations of law enforcement agencies and called for investigations into the raid of the justice’s home, recalling the 2016 incident when security operatives invaded private residences of judicial officers, which subsequently turned out to be underserved.

He also stated that the Judiciary Committee would collaborate with the judiciary and other relevant stakeholders to secure the nation’s democracy.

“We, therefore, condemn in totality such an ignoble act and pledge every effort at ensuring the sanctity of the nation’s judiciary, as well as our continuous support to the independence of the judiciary,” he said.