Senate reacts to invasion of Justice Odili’s home

The Senate, on Monday, said it will debate the invasion of the residence of a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Mary Odili, when it resumes plenary this month.

The Chairman of Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti), disclosed this during an oversight visit to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, at his office in Abuja.

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Security operatives had on Friday night invaded the Abuja residence of the justice, an action seen as an affront on the judiciary arm of government.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, had denied any involvement and announced an immediate investigation into the siege on Odili’s residence.

Bamidele described the invasion as embarrassing, saying the Red Chamber would treat it as a matter of urgent national importance during the plenary session.

He said, “We cannot pretend not to be unaware of the embarrassing situation on an invasion of the residence of Justice Mary Odili on Friday night by security agents.

“Without joining issues with anyone, we take the matter seriously.

“By the time we are back to the plenary session, we will discuss the matter as urgent national importance.”

Responding, the Chief Justice of Nigeria said there was no interference from another arm of government on the judiciary’s activities.

He, however, was silent on the invasion of Justice Odili’s home but commended the federal government for increasing the judiciary’s budget by N10bn.

He said, “Legislative arm of government has not failed us.

“There is nothing that we want that has not been granted by the lawmakers.

“If you see that something is going wrong with the judiciary, call our attention to it. There is no interference from legislature and executive on our activities.”

The Ag. Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Hajo Sarki Bello, informed the lawmakers that 75 per cent budget performance had been recorded in terms of releases and 60 per cent in expenditure.