As many legal practitioners continue to carpet the overnight raids the State Security Service carried out on senior seven judges across the national last weekend, rights activist and lawyer Femi Falana has up-voted the government action..
In a statement he issued from Lagos on Sunday, Falana called for the release of the judges but suggested their prosecution by the Attorney General of the Federation.
“As the detained judges are presumed innocent until the contrary is proved by the state, they should be admitted to bail in self-recognizance. At the same time, the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation should ensure that the suspects are arraigned in court without any further delay,” he said.
According to him, it is a matter of grave concern that the legal profession has allowed the denigration of the hallowed temple of justice because of the misconduct of a few corrupt judges.
“For several years, judges who committed grave criminal offences were not prosecuted but merely retired by the authorities on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council,” he said.
He believes that though the National Judicial Council recently recommended the dismissal and prosecution of a judge for extorting the sum of N197 million from a litigant, the authorities have done little in ridding the bench of corruption
Falana cited a case about two years ago, when an anti-graft agency found N2 billion in the account of a high court judge. He noted because she could not defend the lodgement in her bank account, she obtained an interlocutory injunction from one of the judges in the custody of the SSS.
“It is common knowledge that two Senior Advocates of Nigeria are standing trial in the Lagos high court for allegedly bribing a judge. Even though it takes two to tango, the judge has not been charged to court for allegedly receiving bribe,” said Falana.
The Lagos lawyer will be the first to take a different look at the weekend incident. Others, including Ebun Adegoruwa, Mike Ozekhome, the leadershop of the Nigeria Bar Association, and groups like the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Projects have condemned the action.