By Emma Ogbuehi
- Outrage over invasion of Mary Odili’s Abuja home rages
Pressure continued to mount on the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, over last Friday’s invasion of the Abuja residence of Mary Odili, a Justice of teh Supreme Court (JSC)
On Tuesday, senior lawyers in the country under the umbrella of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) have met with Malami and demanded an immediate probe of the siege on Odili’s home.
Members of the group, including Adegboyega Awomolo, Prof Yemi Akinseye-George and Jibrin Okutepa, among others warned that the development threatens judicial independence and the nation’s democracy.
Awomolo told journalists after the meeting that the group also plans to meet with the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) later in the day on the issues.
Dr. Umar Gwandu, the media aide to the AGF, said Malami denied involvement of his office in the incident.
He said Malami has written relevant security agencies to investigate the development.
Many groups and individuals have equally called for a probe of the ugly incident.
On Sunday, chairmen of the five branches of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Imo State strongly condemned the invasion of the Abuja residence of Justice Odili.
A statement by the committee of chairmen of the NBA branches in Imo State, which was signed by J.I. Ogamba, Esq. (Owerri Branch), Chief A.U. Ugboaja, KSC (Mbaise Branch), R.C. Ndeme, Esq. (Okigwe Branch), B.A. Munonye, Esq. (Orlu Branch), and Chief Richard Anyanwu (Mbano/Etiti Branch) called for a thorough investigation into the sequence of events culminating into the invasion.
The Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters visited the Supreme Court on Monday and promised to carry out investigation.
Speaking during the visit, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, told the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, that the Red Chamber will investigate what happened.
According to him, the upper chamber will discuss the incident under matter of urgent National importance as soon as it reconvenes November 9.
His words: “We cannot pretend not to be aware of the embarrassing situation of invasion of residence of Justice Mary Odili on Friday night by security agencies. Without joining issues with anyone, we take the matter seriously, by the time, we are back to plenary session, we will discuss the matter as that of urgent national importance.”