Columns
DSS Home Invasion & The Arrest Of Corrupt Nigerian Judges Who Collected Bribe – Awoyemi Reuben
Oct 9, 2016 – Opinion: Still On The Arrest Of Corrupt Nigerian Judges Who Collected Bribe In Abuja, Port Harcourt & Gombe States – Awoyemi Reuben
DSS Home Invasion & The Arrest Of Corrupt Nigerian Judges Who Collected Bribe In Abuja – Awoyemi Reuben
By the way, what is so special in arresting judges and getting their houses searched? Are they not human beings in the services of govt. What made them special? Rep Jefferson house was searched, he was arrested and prosecuted in US during Atiku saga.
He was later jailed for taking bribe. Please before we made them special breed, read the stories of the country we are copying and you will discover that the law respects nobody. For Gods sake who is happy with the way this country has been grounded?
Each day you wake up, you hear stories of corrupt back and front. Nigerians don’t steal millions any more but billions and trillions.
What did Jonathan’s wife do for living orthan than being the president’s wife.
How much does a court judge earn? We are talking of high grade corruption, some of us are saying some people are special. Who are they? Whatever method used to arrest and detain them should not be the big issue, the question is where did they find the money found with them. ?
A South Korean minister was executed for insulting the prime minister. For God sake, this country must have rules and regulation,with active legal system.
Before our very own eyes, Anwan Sadat of Egypt was wheeled to court from the hospital each day his case come up in the court, and he was later jailed.
Buhari is shouting himself to the rooftop everyday that the judiciary is not cooperating with him. He has his reasons and findings .
Now the die is cast. He is beaming his search light on this giant obstacle to his success and we are saying his method is crude.
What method do we want him to use knowing fully well that he is now going after the most dreaded obstacle. He knows there will be hues and cries. He knows lawyers, judges and the hanger ons will bring the roof down.
Yes let’s bring the roof down. We will all go down. This is one task that must be down. Jubrin said they shared billions and he got over 600million naira. Is he telling lies against himself.
Yet Nigerians are condemning him for crying out.
What kind of country is this? What kind of human being are we?Before these revelations a deaf and dumb Nigerian knows that judiciary is stinking like other places and we heard people saying he should go after them if he knew them.
Now he is after them what again do we want him to do? To treat them with glove hands or tell them that he is coming to search their houses? To prepare their minds ahead.?
Instead of been happy that Buhari is after them, we are questioning his authority for doing his job.
What an insult to the integrity of the nation?
Let the judiciary collapse the country becasue they are now at the centre of attraction.
Let lawyers go on strike. Let judiciary workers go on strike, let all courts stop work. This job must be done, No sacred cow. We are all equal, we only have opportunities.
By the way, what is Wike ‘s business in arresting judges. Wike prevented the arrest, ?
Is this not enough sign for right thinking Nigerians to smell a rat?
Please we need to sit up. This is my opinion . No apology.
Awoyemi Reuben writes from Ado Ekiti.
Bench
October 9, 2016 at 8:47 PM
Buhari is plans to commot pipul wey was put by PDP so that he is put pipul weyris put by him to be answer him yes sir yes sir yes sir. Even mad man know say Buhari is not fight coroption. He is fight his enemy. Obama know. Dana Trump know. Hilary Clintin even know. So wetin are we talk about of?
fifelomo
October 9, 2016 at 9:18 PM
Smiles , Bench @ it again.
Danti
October 9, 2016 at 9:24 PM
Yes! At last, go after every spurious in every department, Nigeria is just too corrupt. Only a benighted person would criticize the government without facts, most Nigerians are foolishly disposed to divisive comments. Rats and roaches in the government must be ruthlessly dealt with.
Endure
October 9, 2016 at 10:45 PM
Mr writer I don’t think any honest hearted and right thinking nigerians will condemn the fight against corruption in all level and in all arms of government including our judiciary. No doubt corruption is endemic even in the judicial system in the country.
But fighting corruption doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow due process and conform your action in accordance with the rule of law in the country. Your asking what method do we want the president to use only shows your limited understanding and your ignorance into processes to get such corrupt judges arrested and prosecuted.
The problem we have in this country is that many of us have very cramp,shortsighted and narrow-minded view in government and that is why we will not make findings before making comment or expressing our view. we always want to rush and blindly hit our target and have our problem fix even though that include trampling,infringing and overriding the due process within the frame of the constitution and the rule of law in the country. Such practise will only set us from the democratic part and slide us directly into anarchy.
If their is intelligent information about a corrupt judge who has collected or received bribery to overturn a case or pervert judgement and it comes to the notice of the head of the executive branch of the government which is president Muhammadu Buhari,then rather than immediately resorting to the use of force, he as a president has to order the “NATIONAL JUDICIAL COUNCIL” (NJC) to summon those judges so as to carry out thorough investigation on them. (NJC) is the body saddled with the responsibility to investigate and prosecute any judges who has violated or breach the law of the country’s judicial system. And if Buhari doesn’t have trust in the NJC,he can call for an establishment of independent tribunal within the judiciary to carry out investigation of such suspected criminal judge. If after investigating and such judge is found guilty,then he will
Be stripped of his or her qualification and be prosecuted accordingly.
Mr writer,has your president done that? Why does he have to bring back the common practise of military rule into democracy? Why does he like to flout,defy and contravene the rule of law and the constitution of the country in the name of fighting corruption? The main responsibility of a president is to enforce the law,live by the law and be an example to others. You don’t just use force because you are a president who is fighting corruption. Such consistent violation of human right and utter disrespect for the rule of law and for nigerian constitution by mr president is earning us big shame and disgrace from the international observers. Because president Muhamadu buhari wouldn’t follow the rule of law was why a corrupt person like DASUKI could be vindicated and be cleared of his charges by the ECOWAS. Because Buhari wouldn’t respect the rule of law was why Julie Ward a member of european parliament would order Buhari to release Nnamdi Kanu and his co-defendant from illegal detention.
Fighting corruption should be top priority of every leader of a nation but not in a repressive,oppressive and intimidating manner. The president will win his fight against corruption if he is a respecter of the rule of law.
If you don’t understand this,then go back to your constitution. And if you don’t have it then request for one so you can get yourself familiar with nigerian constitution and the rule of law that guides every actions of all members in the three branches of the government, ok?
Metu Nyetu
October 10, 2016 at 8:10 AM
@ENDURE, MAY YOUR WISDOM ENDURE forever!
Jilo
October 10, 2016 at 2:47 PM
@ Endure, I have always appreciate your contributions in some vital issues in this forum but I’m little bit disappointed in your response about how those Judged were being exposed. Sometimes you may try to hide it but I can tell that you are one of the critics of this administration without looking at the circumstances that led to the action of this man.
The method used by the DSS is called sting operation. In an advance democracy, the FBI can use the sting operation to collect the information they want to collect without notifying the suspect. That doesn’t mean they did not follow the rule of law. They can obtain warrant secretly if they know that the suspect will intervene the process of their investigations. From the previous article, when one of the judges discovered that the DSS wanted to search his residence, he connived with the state Governor to move the evidence out of his residence.
You are talking about rule of law but it is evident that the rule of law is not working in our democracy system. These criminal always use it to their advantage. For example Saraki case has been going on and on which I believe no justice will ever be served. Nobody among those bigwigs has ever been convicted for corruption in our democracy yet everybody knows that these are the people that brought this Country down to its knee. Now tell me do you think it makes sense using the same tactics in fighting corruption? I really commend this administration for at least exposing these corrupt judges because the evidence found and the money recovered really showed that these corrupt judges are the ones compounding the smooth actualization of democracy in this Country.
Do not blame Buhari at all for not following the rules of law. Sometime we need to twist this rules to achieve our goals in fighting against corruption. When FBI bursted Rep. Jefferson in the United States concerning Haliburton’s scandal, they did not inform him and they found wrapped Dollar notes inside his refrigerator. He was indicted and convicted. After his confession and pointed fingers at Atiku who was then Vice President, nothing was done on our side to effect the indictment of Atiku & Co. Instead they swept the case under the carpet. Is that due process under rule of law?
My question is why do we (Nigerians) love to pretend that we don’t know that these are the people behind our recession? because we all know that Supreme Court Judges Judgement is the final. If these corrupt people steal our Billions of Naira, all they do is to cut share to unscrupulous Judges and leave the rest of us to unnecessary hardship. Buhari was aware of this and realized without exposing these Judges, our fight against corruption will be in vain that is why he adopted that method. Again, this is the time we should be supporting our President not by criticizing him because he is an Hausa man.
Ed
October 9, 2016 at 10:57 PM
My bone of contention is? Why do these cleansing always in PDP States and in the south. Change has to start from within so let them start from Abuja judges or are there no corrupt judges in the north? Charity they say begins at home, so let him start the cleansing with the northern judges first, then he will have the conscience and moral ground to face those in the south.
DHAKA
October 10, 2016 at 4:38 AM
****** are morons. There is every process of arresting under the law. The judges may be guilty but did he followed the due process? This man called our president should know that this is democracy and not a military regime. I know what he’s driving at? Jailed those judges and bring in an hausa man that will be ready to obey him when right or wrong. Let’s be watching because he’s also coming for top politicians before 2019 election comes.
Crus
October 10, 2016 at 11:34 AM
Shame on you Dhaka, that is why you Nigeria will never be good in anything at all, so now you are telling us that Men and Women Who swore an oath to be Protectors of the Law should be Corrupt to that extend?, there is nothing that President Muhammadu Buhari will come up with that you Nigerians will not see a Fault on him, Please tell me Mr. So CALL Dhaka Bangladesh when will you Nigerians Stand up for the Truth?
sola olaniyi
October 10, 2016 at 8:54 AM
nice comment @dhaka
Tendy
October 10, 2016 at 12:31 PM
#Ed is so right. The change has to start in d APC states so we’ll know how impartial he is. Y must it be the PDP states? Ain’t applauding the arrested judges for their wrongs thou but I hate one_sided justice
Endure
October 10, 2016 at 9:51 PM
@jilo I will urge you not to allow your enthusias and fondness for Buhari to completely erode your view about the mode of anti-corruption war of the current administration.
Nigeria has remained under-developed to date because of the activities of the corrupt politicians in connection with our states funds.
However the unenlightenment,ignorance and vagueness of many nigerians toward what DEMOCRACY stands for,is what is driving them to *******
@jilo can you please tell me under which law in the country or constitution is it permeated for DSS to invade and break judges homes with sledge hammers in search of corruption-related evidences. I want you to tell me what session and where it can be found in our constitution.
Look let me emphasize to you that apart from what we call DEMOCRACY,CONSTITUTION and the RULE OF LAW, do you also know there is what we called SEPERATION OF POWER in government? As independent body,power has been dedicated to the judiciary to interpret the law,to guide against injustice and to also serve as the guidance to our constitution. The same power has been given them by the nigerian constitution to sanitize there department by bringing the erring judges among them to trial through the body known as NATIONAL JUDICIAL COUNCIL or NJC. So the constitution of the country has already separated the powers of the three arms of government namely- the EXECUTIVE,JUDICIARY and LEGISLATURE.
So therefore,if there must be any move to bring any erring judges to judgement in the department of the judiciary,the executive leader, that is,the president must go through the channel lay down by our national constitution. Failure to follow this laid down rules and fact means mr president has automatically trampled on the rule of law and destroying the balance of separation of powers in the political system with the interference of the activities of the judiciary.
Then why should any nigerian applaud such a repressive way of fighting corruption?what he has done to the judiciary is a big slap to democracy and a direct invitation to facsm and anarchy. Never in the history of nigeria has any leader attack judiciary in such a manner. As oppressive as the military regime has ever been,non of it leader has ever use such a gestapo style of attack against the judiciary.
Let me ask you @Jilo. Has Buhari address the corruption among the so called DSS that involved a scandal of how they illegally made N2 billion for selling promotion exam answer sheet to northern civil servants? Can you tell me why buhari has failed to prosecute the director general of the DSS Mallan Lawal Musa Daura who is a northerner over this scandal?
So don’t be deceived by the systematic and one-sided way Buhari-led government has choosing to fight the so call corruption. More evidences shows crystal clear that Buhari has been selective in his fight against corruption. Is that the type of president we should throw our weight behind? A president who has largely turned a blind eyes to incessant killings by the fulani herds men of other ethnic groups in the country? A president who has further sink and shrink our economy by his bad economic policy? You have to make a thorough investigation and assessment before given any credence to the current administration way of fighting corruption.
Jilo
October 11, 2016 at 1:58 PM
@ Endure you know yourself that going through proper rule of law procedures will never work. These thieves always know their way around system and continue their destruction with impunity. Why do we want to apply the same rule of law without achieving anything?. We don’t have law in this Country any more. Rule of law means nothing in this Country because some certain people believe they were above the law. They hire most expensive lawyers who can use rule of law to get an injunction against their case and bribe their way through Supreme Court Judges.
Second, you were trying to stress on fight against corruption is one sided that Buhari is only fighting PDP people. Why would you say that? Most people involved in massive looting of our treasury were mainly PDP’s because that was the ruling party and have majorities in sensitive positions. Aside, are you saying Buhari should not fight corruption because most of the people arrested were PDP’s. The question is, did those people committ the offense they were alleged of? If we continue to bring sentiment in fighting against corruption, this country will remain in darkness forever.
The Dollars note and other evidences found during searching doesn’t mean anything to you. Your only concern is they were being selected that others from other party must be probed too. The government cannot probe all corruption case. We only need to make an example of few. We can discuss this all day long but all I know is, giving these bunch of thieves chance to exercise their right by rule of law will only contribute to further destruction of our decayed system.
Endure
October 10, 2016 at 10:17 PM
@Metu Nyetu thank you so much and I wish the same to you my brother.
Endure
October 11, 2016 at 9:11 PM
@jilo I totally disagree with you that going through proper rule of law won’t work or help in fighting corruption and that rule of law means nothing in our country today. Are you sure you are not supporting a military style of fighting corruption while we are still practising democracy?
Let me now make this known to you that for the fact that the president has taking to the use of force rather than following the constitutional process that will see him garner support from the judiciary will even make the fight against corruption more and more difficult and for that reason,his fight against corruption will not achieve it desired objective. Do you think the judiciary will support a president that has no single regard for the constitution and the rule of law? Do you think the president will have the full backing of the judiciary after he has unlawfully subjected one of the core arms of government to nothing?
He can only succeed in his fight if he respect the judicial office and the constitution and corporate with them in fetching out corrupt judges among them and not the gestapo or commando manner he has choosing to fight corruption. The illegal invasion into the judges home using the corrupt DSS has already shows President Muhammadu Buhari’s utter disregard for the rule of law and his abject disdain for the principle of separation of powers.
if the president want a new style in his fight against corruption that will still be within the confinement of democratic process,then let him call for amendment of constitution that will involve the use of the corrupt DSS to carry out raid on suspected corrupt judges who may have receive bribe in order to falsify or pervert judgement.
Honestly @jilo you made me laugh to say members of PDP have been the most corrupt in government that should require more attention when it comes to the fight against corruption. ******
Why has Buhari backed off in prosecuting the current APC Fulani senate president olubukola saraki who was alleged with corruption? Why has the charges against him dropped? Can you tell me? Why has Buhari failed to investigate the scandal of N2 billion illegal sales of promotion examination sheets to the northern civil servants by the DSS? Can you tell me?
****** No fight against corruption will succeed when tribal sentiment has been involved or introduced. O******. But segregation while fighting corruption is absolutely unacceptable! And I wonder why you would still be bold enough to say the “GOVERNMENT CANNOT PROBE ALL CORRUPTION CASE” what a statement! And by your statement you are directly endorsing sentimentalism in the fight against corruption. And your statement also mean some corrupt government officers are worthy to be probed while others are not but can only learn from there example so they can quit from practising corruption. ********
Its a pity that this shameful segregatory way Buhary led-government is fighting corruption in nigeria is attracting strong condemnation from international community. And that is why PETE HOESKSTRA the former chief of the US intelligent service committee could say that (BUHARI HAS MADE HIS ANTI CORRUPTION WAR SELECTIVE) and point at how the opposition members are been investigated while his own party members accused with large scale corruption are walking free on the street. It is indeed a shame and big disgrace to nigerian government to be hearing this type of assessment from one of the international observer.
So @jilo condemn what is bad! Support the rule of law while we are still in democratic government which is the best way to fight corruption. And say no to tribalism or the prosecution of selected individuals in public offices.