Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human rights activist, Femi Falana has called on President Mohamadu Buhari to urgently set up an independent executive investigation panel to probe the illegal raid of Justice Mary Odili’s home. Falana described the raid on the home of the Supreme Court justice as an embarrassment to the country and should be investigated to forestall future occurrences.
The Senior Advocate spoke as a guest of Channels Television programme on Thursday morning. Recall that security operatives invaded the home of Justice Odili, who is second in line to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Tanko, on information that “illegal activities” were going on at the residence. Following the incident, however, many legal bodies including the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and concerned Nigerians condemned the act and called for a prompt investigation into the invasion. Following the public outcry, the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), distanced himself from the raid on Justice Odili’s home and ordered a probe into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The Nigeria Police High Command later said it had arrested 14 suspects in connection with the illegal raid, noting that 21 persons were involved, including people from the police, military, journalism, and the legal profession. Speaking on the raid, Falana questioned why the other seven suspects involved in the action have not been arrested by the police, saying the two soldiers who were said to be involved must be provided and prosecuted. “The president was away, now that he is back, some of us are going to appeal to the president to set up an independent inquiry into this unfortunate incident so that it does not reoccur because it is very dangerous.
“It is an embarrassment to the country to say that, a gang of thugs can obtain a search warrant to subject a Supreme Court justice, the next in rank to the Chief Justice of the country, to an illegal search, and anything could have happened that night, and that is why we have to put an end to this. We must get to the root of this crime,” he said.