Ekiti Governor Ayodele Fayose and the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD),
Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) yesterday condemned the recent invasion of residences of judges and their consequent arrest by the officials of Department of State Service ( DSS) describing it as flagrant erosion of independence of judiciary.
They spoke at the foundation- laying of a new high court complex in Ado Ekiti. They described the onslaught on the judicial officers as dangerous to the country’s democracy arguing that if judges could be harassed and treated that way by the DSS nobody is safe under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
Fayose emphasised that the harassments meted on the judges in the name of corruption connotes grave danger to the country as a nation.
He called on judicial officers and lawyers to defend the judiciary, which he said is the last hope of the masses.
“I am particularly glad with what is happening today because the judicial officers had not done enough to put the executive at checks. I had earlier raised the alarm that something like this will happen, so the current predicament of these judges will teach a lesson that nobody is safe from harassment in Nigeria.
“However, no matter the offence they might have committed, the arrest is regrettable and sad. This should not have happened to judges who built their careers from the scratch. But let me tell you, this government will still do more.
“We must all protect the judicial arm and that is why I am building this new complex that will have modern accessories to ease administration of justice and smoothen legal matters in the state” he said.
Babalola while condemning the DSS’s action, said only the National Judicial Council (NJC) was constitutionally empowered to discipline judges.
He said, “I am particularly saddened by the attack. How can they be treated like criminals? The fact that the DSS released the judges on the second showed that they did not evade arrest, why should they then
harassed and humiliated them in the first instance?
“It is a trite law that process of the court can’t be served after 7pm. Even if the DSS had the arrest warrant, they should not have gone on midnight raid of the houses of the judges.
“The NJC has the power to promote, appoint and discipline judges, this was done to ensure independence of that arm. So, I expect them to have approached the NJC. How can you arrest the sitting Supreme Court judges and took him to magistrate court for trial? That could only be done after they have been removed”, he said.
