Photos of Madam Diezani's Multi-Billion Estate

 A Woman owns all these..Looted money gave birth to all these

UPDATE | EFCC Free Obanikoro

Obanikoro

Following his confession as to how the Billions he collected from the office of then NSA was shared and his undertaking to pay back over N400million to the federal government, the EFCC has released former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro.

However, his passport and other documents still remain with the EFCC until he's able to return the cash

FRAUD: Man Sentence To 195 Years Imprisonment For Fraudulent Act (PHOTO)

Justice Dije Abdu Northerner of the Kano state High Court convicted and sentenced former Oceanic bank staff, Aliyu Suleiman, to 195 years imprisonment for allegedly stealing over N21m (Twenty one Million Naira only) from Albasu Microfinance Bank.

As a former staff of Oceanic Bank, Aliyu was engaged and entrusted by the Albasu Community to take charge of their Microfinance Bank. While in charge, he violated that trust and siphoned over N21m by forging signatures of the other signatories to the funds.

He was first arraigned in court on September 30th, 2014. As usual, he pleaded not guilty to all the count charge brought against him by the EFCC.

Delivering judgement, the presiding judge sentenced the convict to serve two years on each of the first forty four counts he was charged with and a fine of N300,000 on each, AKS Media reports.

Where the convict defaults the fine, he is to serve additional six months imprisonment on each count. From count 45 to 74, the convict was sentenced to fine of N500, 000 or twelve months imprisonment on each count while on count 75 to 105, he is to pay fine of N200, 000 or twelve months imprisonment on each count with the exception of count 97 which appeared to be duplication.

The sentences are to run concurrently.

The convict was also ordered to restitute the sum of N14, 815,000 (Fourteen Million, Eight Hundred and Fifteen Thousand Naira Only) to the Albasu Community or spend five more years in prison.

Loot: Ex- Custom Boss Returns 1bn Cash

A former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, has returned N1,040,000,000 to the Federal Government from his big loot.

Abdullahi Dikko, who served as head of customs between August, 2009 and August, 2015, became the subject of an EFCC investigation last year when the commission established that about N40bn was diverted from the coffers of the NCS under his watch.

The funds were allegedly drawn from proceeds of the 7% cost of collection and 1% comprehensive import supervision scheme.

He was subsequently arrested by the EFCC in June this year but was released due to his poor health.

However, a reliable source within the EFCC told Punch that the suspect had been returning money to the federal government.

The source added, “So far, Dikko has returned over N1bn. He returned N1bn and then N4m. He is still expected to return more money.”

The EFCC had, earlier in the year, seized a mansion belonging to Dikko located at 1 Audu Ogbeh Street, Jabi, Abuja. According to the EFCC, the mansion is worth at least N2bn.

Dikko was a customs officer and he has to explain where he got money to buy a mansion of N2bn.

EFCC Grills Senior Lawyers For Bribing Judges

There is palpable tension within Nigeria’s legal profession as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday grilled some elite lawyers alleged to have transferred huge sums of money to the bank accounts of some judges.

A source close to the EFCC identified the Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), who answered an invitation to the EFCC Office in Ikoyi, Lagos, in the morning. There names are:

Paul Usoro and Chief Gabi Adetola-Kaseem, as well as Chief Felix Fagbohungbe.

The invitations by EFCC are a sequel to the recent interrogation of two Federal High Court judges: Agbadu James Fishim and Uwani Abba Aji, and one judge of the Industrial Court.

The source said that the commission had also invited another senior lawyer, Adeniyi Akintola, but he did not show up. When SR reached Chief Akintola by phone, he denied receiving any invitation from the EFCC, and claimed he had just met with the Attorney General of the Federation in Abuja.

Chief Akintola was said to be in Abuja to defend a judge before the National Judicial Council (NJC) following a petition by a litigant. It is unclear whether his meeting with the Attorney General has anything to do with any judge in trouble.

Our source said the EFCC chairman was shocked that prominent senior lawyers who have an official relationship with the EFCC may also be involved in corruption within the judiciary.

The source stated that the leadership of EFCC may have opted to invite the senior lawyers following suggestions that the commission was planning to cover-up their illegal activities to preserve their working relationship.

Up to 30 senior lawyers are under probe for bribing judges according to an EFCC source.

Most of the the SANs under investigations have mansions and questionable bank accounts.

The source said: "We have discovered that corruption in the judiciary is widespread. Some SANs who have assisted the EFCC in handling some of our cases in the past are involved. Some of these lawyers had assisted us with useful legal opinions on several matters. So, we are in a dilemma."

BREAKING: Court Of Appeal Dismisses Saraki’s CCT Trial

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has again affirmed the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to try the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki on charges bordering on assets declaration breaches before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Delivering judgment in the appeal filed by Saraki, the Justice Abdul Aboki-led panel of the appeal court on Thursday affirmed the CCT’s jurisdiction after dismissing the appeal filed by Saraki challenging his trial before the tribunal.

All the four other members of the panel unanimously agreed with the lead judgment delivered by Justice Aboki‎ who resolved all the eight issues formulated for determination against Saraki.

In affirming the earlier ruling of the Danladi Umar-led CCT affirming the tribunal’s jurisdiction, Justice Aboki held among others that contrary to Saraki’s contention, the Attorney-General of the Federation had the power to institute charges against him before the CCT.

The appeal court also held that under the Constitution, the Code of Conduct wa‎s not under any obligation to invite the appellant to enable him to make written admission of breaches in his asset declaration forms before charges could be initiated against him.

It held that the tribunal had rightly departed from its earlier decision exonerating a former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu‎ on account that he was not invited by the CCB to confront him with the allegations levelled against him.

The court also held that the fact that the charges were initiated 13‎ years after the offences were allegedly committed was immaterial.

Justice Aboki described the contention as sentimental which the court had been enjoined not to delve into.

This was the second time the appeal court would be delivering judgment on the same subject matter of jurisdiction of the CCT to try the Senate President.

The Court of Appeal had last year ruled against Saraki on the jurisdiction of the CCT and asked him to proceed to face the 16 counts preferred against him.

The judgment of the appeal court was validated by the Supreme Court in February.

13 LASU Staffs Sacked For Using Fake Result To Apply Job

The Lagos State University has dismissed 13 members of staff in the junior cadre, following reports from the Junior Staff Disciplinary Committee.

The institution, in an official bulletin said the decision was taken by the Governing Council at its 112th Statutory Meeting.

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It said the council, after deliberation, approved the recommendation ‎of the disciplinary committee to dismiss 13 out of the 14 staff members presented by the disciplinary committee for necessary action.

“Council at its 112th statutory meeting received and considered Paper No. 10/GC/16/068 on the Report of Junior Staff Disciplinary Committee on allegations leveled against some members of staff.

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“It, after deliberations, approved the recommendation of the Junior Staff Disciplinary Committee on the affected members of staff,’’ it said.

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The university authorities said in the bulletin that one of the staff members was exonerated of the allegation of falsification of results levelled against him.

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According to the authorities, nine of the affected members of staff were dismissed on the grounds of falsification and irregularities in their West African Examination Council results.

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The bulletin indicated that one of the affected staff members was dismissed for involvement in fraudulent act, two for theft and one for abandonment of duty.

NAN

Why Amaechi, Other Ministers Are Not Being Probed For Corruption - Presidency

Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution, Okoi Obono-Obla, in an interview published by Premium Times defended Buhari's ministers against allegations of corruption levelled against them.

"They have said there are some bad eggs in the executive. All what I see is a spate of speculative allegations. If you have anything against any member of the executive bring it out, concrete information on wrongdoing or corruption. They always mention Rotimi Amaechi, Babatunde Fashola and the Minister of Interior, Dambazau.

According to him, they are not being probed because there is no concrete evidence of corruption against them.

"Let’s take the case of Amaechi. Amaechi was governor of Rivers State for eight years. If the Rivers State government truly believe that Amaechi committed a crime or was corrupt why can’t the attorney general of the state that is vested with the power to prosecute anybody in the state who has committed an offence against the laws of the state not prosecute Amaechi? Why is he passing the buck to the federal government? Where is the evidence that Amaechi was corrupt apart from the politics of maliciousness and vindictiveness? They simply drag the federal government into these things simply because some of them do not want Amaechi to be appointed.

"If anybody has concrete allegation against Amaechi let him send it to the EFCC and pursue it and ensure that EFCC does the right thing. The president is not EFCC or ICPC. Send these reports to EFCC or ICPC to take action and if the president is blocking these allegations then you can go home and say the president is selective or he is protecting Amaechi.

"The allegation against the minister of interior is that he has property abroad; it is not that he stole from this government. He was in government when the president was an opposition leader. So if the evidence is there that he bought the property let them come out with petition and bring to the ministry of justice and let them tell us where the property are and then we start investigating him. I can tell you that nobody is protecting anybody. But it is not just to make any allegation against somebody because you want to rope in somebody or because you want to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

Two Pastors Arrested For Duping Church Members (See Photos)

Pastors Paul William along with his Ugandan counterpart Pastor Josephs have been arrested by the police in Zimbabwe after entering the country with fake passports.

 

According to H-metro, the two pastors at Holy Fire Ministry were said to have flouted immigration laws and duped congregants of their cash. They will appear in court today.

 

“These pastors have been charging one on one session for US$20.

 

“Failure to pay the marked price, one would not be attended to,” a source told H-metro.

 

“These sessions would start around 10am in the morning and pastor Williams would preach while Joseph prays for people.

 

“They have been doing that for quite some time and their money.

“Their church realises nearly US$10 000 every week which they send back to Uganda.”

The pastors were also accused of demanding sexual favours from church members and wrecking people's homes.

 

“These pastors were using pseudonyms, since Pastor Paul William’s real name is David Mubiru while Joseph is Shafik Sekandi.

“Pastor William had a fake passport that showed he arrived in Zimbabwe on the 11th of this month yet there are rumours that he was at Florida Community Hall in Mutare mid September for healing and prophetic deliverance.

“They have destroyed people’s marriages claiming to be mightily used by God while they sexually abuse women who come for ‘deliverance’.

“Pastor William spends most of his time drinking beer as a way to entertain himself.

NIGERIA: Corrupt Judge Hides Millions Inside His Shoes

The lawyers and judges involved in this corruption mess are doing it because they know that justice is not guaranteed in Nigeria, especially because they and their friends are in charge of the courts.

Another judge is under probe for allegedly collecting N30m bribe from a senator. He's said to have stuffed some of the cash, in Dollars, in his shoes and walked barefooted to his car. Imagine!

The senator complained to the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) being led Prof. Itse Sagay.

Also yesterday, it was learnt that most of the nine arrested judges had petitions against them with the National Judicial Council (NJC).

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, is said to have the list of judges to be investigated in the last five months.

Although the list was shown to some legal authorities by the CJN, no action was taken by the NJC.

PACAC has as much as 50 petitions sent to it against some of the judges by Nigerians who have been denied justice by the alleged corrupt connivance of the said judges.

One of the complaints came from a senator who alleged that a judge demanded about N50million from him to influence a case but he paid N30million.

The money was delivered to the Court of Appeal Justice in dollars.

But following the senator’s inability to pay the balance of N20m, the judge gave judgment against the senator, it was alleged.

A source said: “The senator told us that the judge asked for N50million but he could only pay N30m and lost the case for not meeting up with the balance.

“He said when the judge came at night to collect the bribe, he stuffed every available space and went to a ridiculous extent of stuffing some of the money in his shoes. The judge then decided to walk barefooted to his car.

“We have the complaint against the judge and the senator is ready to testify because the judge did not refund the N30million to date. The government is going to see to the logical conclusion of this case against the judge.”

Asked to name the judge, the source added: “The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), disclosed the name of the justice at a session with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to underscore why the bench must be rid of bad eggs. The NBA has been briefed, let them also talk.

“This is to show that government is transparent about the whole process. It is not a witch-hunt at all.”

On the arrested judges, the source added: “The DSS is ready to tender the video clips in court. In fact, some of the judges will be shocked by the professionalism of the security agency.

“The clips have already been shown to a few lawyers to prove that due diligence was followed. We hope the court will allow the prosecution to show the clips during trial."

EFCC Confronts Obanikoro with Evidence, Detains Him For Hours

Obanikoro

A former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, was on Monday grilled for several hours by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and where he was confronted with evidence by detectives.

Obanikoro reported himself yesterday to the EFCC after returning from the United States of America. It was gathered that after reporting at the commission's office around 1.20pm and as at 8.59pm, he was still detained.

The EFCC had alleged that a company, Sylvan McNamara, allegedly owned by Obanikoro’s sons, was said to have received N4.7bn from the Office of the National Security Adviser under Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) in June 2014.

SaharaReporters reveals that Obanikoro allegedly handed over N1.219bn to Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and N1.3bn to Senator Iyiola Omisore, the then Osun State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party; he directed that about N759,384,300 should be transferred into the accounts of about six bureau de change operators.

The two bureau de change operators that received the bulk of the funds were A.A.G.B.S. Oil and Gas and North Line Limited.

While A.A.G.B.S. received N168m on June 16, 2014, North Line Limited received N835, 000 on July 14; N83,750,000 on June 17; N1,680,000 on September 3, 2014; about N2,325, 300 on September 9; N5,932, 500 on September 17 and N842,500 on July 30.

It was also gathered that an aide to Obanikoro, who accompanied the ex-minister to the EFCC, told the commission that he visited a bureau de change operator on the instruction of Obanikoro and collected over $1m on behalf of the ex-minister and handed it over to him (ex-minister).

Obanikoro could not deny the statement when confronted with the evidence including receipts. Obanikoro was said to have arrived at the commission with a bag containing drugs, toiletries, and other items.

“He has been cooperating with us. He has made useful statements, but we still need him to shed more light on the main issues.

“He came with a bag load of drugs and told us that he was treating himself. We will keep him here for now,” a source in the EFCC said.

When contacted on the telephone, Obanikoro’s lawyer, Mr. James Onoja (SAN), revealed that his client was cooperating with the EFCC and will soon be released on bail.

Two Judges Report To EFCC Over Bribery Allegations

Two Federal High Court judges Mohammed Nasir Yunusa and Hyeladzira Ajiya Nganjiwa on Monday, 17th October, 2016, reported to the Lagos Office of EFCC.

The judges arrived at the Commission's Lagos Office following an invitation letter the EFCC extended to them.

Their invitation is sequel to the bribery and money laundering allegations the Commission discovered during investigations in an ongoing case in which two senior lawyers have already been arraigned in court.

It would be recalled that the EFCC had on March 9, 2016, arraigned two senior lawyers Rickey Tarfa SAN and Joseph Nwobike SAN, before a Lagos High Court on allegations of bribery and offering gratification to a public official.

Nwobike and Tarfa are facing criminal prosecution for allegedly offering gratification to Federal High Court judges to refrain them from exercising the duties of their office.
Subsequent investigation revealed that the two Judges allegedly received sums of money from the two senior lawyers severally.

Two More Judges Arrested, DSS Freezes Accounts

Two more judges were arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) on Wednesday, taking the number of judges so far picked up to nine.

Justices Bashir Sukola and Ladan Manir of the Kaduna State High Court, were arrested in Kaduna and taken to the DSS Headquarters in Abuja at about 8.30pm. A top source said they were immediately taken in for interrogation. Arrest of more "corrupt" judges to continue.

The DSS has frozen the accounts of some of the judges under investigation. In some of the accounts are “huge lodgments”, a source said told The Nation.

The agency has received more petitions against the judges. Many of the petitioners, it was learnt, are willing to testify against them.

There were strong indications that the judges might be arraigned in court next week because the DSS has set a deadline in order not to extend the investigation of the judges beyond this week.

All of them are to face trial, the source said.

Under probe are two Supreme Court Justices – Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro – 

the suspended Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, Justice Mohammed Ladan Tsamiya, who was picked up in Sokoto; Justice Adeniyi Ademola (Federal High Court); the Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice I. A. Umezulike; Justice Kabiru Auta of Kano State High Court; and Justice Muazu Pindiga (Gombe State High Court).

The source, who spoke in confidence, said: “Some accounts have been frozen through orders of the court. This affects some of the judges. Not all of them.

“We found some huge lodgements that are questionable in some accounts and in addition to that we also observed the inflow of their salaries over a long period without them making any withdrawal at all.

“What that means is that they don’t live on their salaries at all. Those accounts have been frozen but as I said not all of the judges are affected.”

On why the judges were yet to be charged to court, the source added: “We are waiting for the action of the NJC. We expect the NJC to suspend them, otherwise it’s like taking a sitting judge to court.

“In the Service, when anybody is being investigated for any serious crime, the first thing we do is to place such a person on suspension.

“After the investigation, such a person would face trial and get dismissed from service on conviction and later face prosecution in the law court.”

Asked what will happen if they are not suspended, the source quipped: “The NJC does not have the luxury not to suspend them. We wrote the NJC on Monday but we haven’t received any response.”

Culled

WANTED! Goodie Ibru Declares Wanted By EFCC

Goodie minabo ibru whose photograph appears above has been declared wanted by efcc for capital market fraud, money laundering, among other fraud related offences.

Just In: DSS Free Arrested Judges

The Department of State Service, DSS has released all the judges arrested over corruption during a nationwide sweep.

A DSS source to OneNigeriaBlog that the seven arrested judges were on Sunday, released on bail based on self-recognition.

“They were all released on bail yesterday(Sunday) on self recognition,” one of our sources said.

“They reported this morning (Monday) and they have all gone back home. They will be coming back tomorrow. And everything went very procedurally well and civil.

“They were released on bail on self recognition based on the fact that given their standing in the society, they cannot run away.

They were instructed that they should come back today by 10am.

“They did report for investigation this morning and they have gone back home. And the investigation continues and preparation to charge them to court continued.”

The source added, “Also, action was sequel to lack of cooperation by National Judicial Council. Such as refusal by the NJC to allow the affected persons to be questioned by the DSS. Investigation started some seven months ago, precisely in April 2016.”

The crackdown has continued to generate mixed reactions across the country.

REVEALED: How BVN Exposed Judges' Dirty Financial Deals

Barely 48 hours after the Department of State Services, DSS, had taken 7 suspected corrupt judges into its custody, details of what led to their arrests and how they were picked up from their homes by operatives of the agency began to emerge.

Competent sources close to the operations disclosed that the DSS could no longer watch and allow corrupt judges use their positions to engage in sabotage, subversion and espionage latching on huge proceeds of corruption.

A source told Vanguard that unknown to most Nigerians, some of the judges had been collecting huge bribes to subvert the will of the people, using the proceeds to acquire choice property and build fat bank accounts without putting in enough efforts to do the job they were paid to do.

The source said that based on series of petitions from concerned Nigerians to checkmate the excesses of the corrupt judges, the DSS moved in and began a covert investigation, which finally led to the establishment of prima facie evidence against them. 

"As we speak now, we have incontrovertible evidence of brazen corruption against the seven judges in our custody and we are ready to charge them to court, even tomorrow. By our own analysis, the rot in the political scene – election rigging, inter and intra-party crises and election petition trial from tribunal to Supreme Court – gave rise to the deep corruption in the judiciary.

"In the economic sphere, Nigeria lost cases to foreign investors due to the collusion of judges with foreigners, leading to the loss of hundreds of billions of Naira by the country, among them, the Malabo Oil deal where the country lost over $2 billion.

“We have the mandate not only to pre-empt and prevent but also to take necessary actions to bring the culprits of economic and financial crimes to book. 

"That is why we are challenging those who think that our action is unconstitutional to take us to court since we cannot allow Nigeria’s security interest to be jeopardised. “Let it be known that anybody whose action can create hardship for the rest of Nigerians must be stopped by us before the crime is committed and there is no other agency that is as capable of doing that as the DSS,’’ the source said. 

It was learned that the DSS had access to the accounts of the detained judges and actually established that they had been taking bribes from many sources in the discharge of their duties but used the names and pictures of their wives, children and siblings to open such banks account, which were not known to most of those whose names appeared in the bank ledgers. 

"When we brought in most of the children, wives and relatives of the suspects based on the papers we got from the banks, they did not even have an idea that their names had been used by the judges to open such accounts. But you see under the Bank Verification Number, you must put in your passports, name, signature and others. 

"So, for some of the judges, who used fake names and their wives names to open the accounts into which they paid in the proceeds of crime, they foolishly appended their signatures or used their pictures, something that gave them out.

“From what we have found out, some of the suspects acted foolishly in committing the offence because they cannot prove that even if their children were to earn N1 million monthly since they were born till date, none of them can accumulate the amount of money we have traced to their accounts and the type of property they have. 

"Look, it may interest you to know that one of the two Supreme Court judges in our custody has a property worth N1.5 billion in one of the South-South states. If we may ask, where did he get the money to set up such project?

“As far as we are concerned, there is nothing unusual in arresting corrupt judges and taking them to court because it would be an offence against the nation to continue to turn a blind eye to mounting corruption in the judiciary."

The official also pointed out that another judge, who is being detained and questioned, disguised as a shopper in one of the supermarkets and ended up collecting bribes in Dollars from a ‘client’ only to be caught on CCTV camera.

Judge Denies Stashing $2million, Says Wike Gave Him $2.5million Bribe

Justice Mohammed Liman, the Federal High Court Judge whose attempted arrest by the Department of State Security Service (DSS) was blocked by Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike has also been quoted as denying the allegation of stashing $2million in his home.

This is even as DSS sources Liman allegedly took bribes from Governor Nyesom Wike to give favourable judgment to the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The sources also accused the judge of habitually crossing Nigerian borders to allegedly receive bribes from litigants.

The DSS had attempted to arrest the Judge, but his arrested was frustrated by Governor Wike who Gov. Wike sprang up late night to obstruct the arrest

Wike is alleged to have helped the Judge to move the $2million allegedly in his home, but the Judge has denied the allegation.

“I’m not asking anybody to believe or disbelieve whether I stashed $2m, an amount that is equivalent to about N1b,” TheNigerianLawyer quoted the judge as saying in a statement.

“Perhaps you might think the SSS probably exaggerated the amount, but all these would have been relevant considerations if they had actually searched my house.

“If I had $2m or even a quarter of it I would have abandoned this horrible profession that has lost its dignity.In fact I have already lost interest in it and have made up my mind to say bye bye to it. I believe there is a life beyond every other thing.”

Given more details into the matter, top official of the DSS told Premium Times on Sunday that operatives were still tracking Mr. Liman and would ensure his arrest in the coming days after the initial attempt was thwarted by Mr. Wike.

The source said Mr. Liman allegedly took bribes to subvert justice in the leadership tussle within the PDP which has left the party factionalised for several months.

Mr. Liman’s July ruling authenticated the Ahmed Makarfi faction? of the PDP which had been deemed illegal by Justice Okon Abang.

The PDP crisis culminated in another botched convention in August, although the opposing parties are currently working to end the quagmire.

“We received a petition that he (Mr. Liman) received bribes to give his ruling and our investigations confirmed it,” a top SSS official said.

The source added that Mr. Liman is “also a distributor” who receives bribes on behalf of other judges and helps distribute it.

“He travels across the border to Ghana, Republic of Benin and other West African countries to meet lawyers in hotels to take bribes for himself and his colleagues on the bench,” he said.

The source also said the amount involved in Mr. Liman’s botched arrest on Saturday morning was actually $2.5 million, and gave more explanation as to why operatives’ failed to arrest the judge or get the money.

“The vehicle that was used to cart away the $2million was faster than our men’s own,” the source said. “They just couldn’t catch up with them at such a high speed. It’s like chasing a 7-cylinder vehicle with a 3-cylinder.”

“We will arrest him in coming days; we have no doubt about this as we have enough evi?dence to nail him in court. By bringing Governor Wike in, he has worsened his own case.”

But Governor Nyesom Wike whom the SSS blamed for interfering to frustrate the planned Friday night arrest of Mr. Liman, in a statement early Sunday dismissed the allegations as an attempt by the SSS to divert attention from its gross desecration of the constitution.?

The SSS “concocted” the allegations to justify an “unconstitutional assault on the nation’s judiciary,” Mr. Wike said.

Mr. Wike said he didn’t know the judge, but he moved in to prevent him from being taken away because the mode of the SSS arrest did not comply with the dictates of the law.

“In the police, erring and corrupt policemen are first given orderly room trial, sacked and then appropriately prosecuted,” Mr. Wike said. “For judicial officers, the SSS has no role.”

“I am not in support of any judicial support being involved in corruption,” but “this impunity must stop.”

SSS To Arrest Eight More Corrupt Nigerian Judges

About eight more senior judges in Nigeria are being investigated for corruption and may be arrested anytime from now.

The eight are part of 15 judges that are being investigated by the State Security Service for alleged corrupt practices.
Already, seven judges were arrested between Friday night and Saturday morning in raids that have been condemned by lawyers and Nigerian rights groups.

The seven judges arrested and currently in detention at the SSS office are Justice Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court; Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja; Kabir Auta of the Kano High Court; Muazu Pindiga of the Gombe High Court, Mohammed Tsamiya of the Court of Appeal in Ilorin, and the Chief Judge of Enugu State, I. A. Umezulike.

Messrs Umezulike, Auta, and Tsamiya had earlier been recommended for sack by the National Judicial Council for alleged corrupt activities.

The seven arrested judges were still at the SSS office on Sunday evening.

A source at the headquarters of the security service also confirmed that the judges were allowed to see their families and have made relevant statements to the security agency.

Although the identity of the eight others being investigated is not yet clear, at least one of them is a member of the Supreme Court, a source said.

Apart from the judges, at least three members of the registry staff of relevant courts have also been invited for questioning by the SSS and have made “relevant statements,” the source said.
On Saturday, the security service gave reasons why it arrested the judges.

In a statement, the SSS said it also recovered various sums of money from those arrested including over N93 million in cash as well as over $530,000 in cash.

The mode of arrest of the seven judges has led to intense criticism from Nigerians including by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), and foremost rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), which asked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately order the release of the judges.

“The judges may be released even this evening or tomorrow,” once they finish with their statements which we are allowing them write at their own pace,” our source said.

An emergency meeting called by the NJC on the arrests is expected to hold on Monday in what may pit the Judiciary against the executive arm of government.

We Found The Sum Of $2Million (N960Million) In The House Of One Of The Arrested Judges – DSS Claims

One of the arrested judges had $2Million (N960Million) stashed in his house – DSS STATEMENT

PRESS STATEMENT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE SERVICES

The Department of State Services (DSS) in the past few days, has embarked on series of special sting operations involving some Judges of the Supreme, Appeal and High Courts. These operations were based on allegations of corruptions and other acts of professional misconduct by a few of the suspected Judges. The Service action is in line with its core mandate, as we have been monitoring the expensive and luxurious lifestyle of some of the Judges as well as complaints from the concerned public over judgment obtained fraudulently and on the basis amounts of money paid.

The judges involved were invited, upon which due diligence was exhibited and their premises searched. The searches have uncovered huge raw cash of various denominations, local and foreign currencies, with real estate worth several millions of Naira and documents affirming unholy acts by these Judges. Meanwhile, some of them have made useful statements while a few have declined even with the glaring evidences that were found against them in terms of material cash, documents and property recovered pointing to their compromise.

In one of the States where the Service operations were conducted, credible intelligence revealed that the Judge had Two Million United States Dollars ($2,000,000 USD) stashed in his house. When he was approached for due search to be conducted, he in concert with the State Governor, mobilized thugs against the Service team. The team restrained itself in the face of unbridled provocative activities by those brought in by the Governor. Unfortunately, the Judge and Governor also engaged the tacit support of a sister security agency.

The Service surveillance team noticed that upon frustrating the operation, the Judge with the active support of the Governor craftily moved the money to an unknown location which the Service is currently making effort to unravel.

Meanwhile, large amount including foreign/local currencies have been recovered. Summaries of these include:

SUMMARY OF RECOVERED MONEY
1. NAIRA – N93,558,000.00
2. DOLLARS – $530,087
3. POUNDS – £25,970
4. EURO – €5,680

Other foreign currencies were also recovered. This were recovered from just three (3) of the judges.

These in addition to other banking documents, including real estate documents have been recovered. Meanwhile preparations are ongoing to arraign them in a competent court of jurisdiction in line with the laws of the nation.

The Service would want to clearly state that it has never invited Justice Walter NKANU ONNOGHEN for investigation, neither is he being investigated by this Service. In addition the Service would like to put it on record, that it has tremendous respect for the Judiciary and would not do anything to undermine it or its activities. The Service will also join hands with this noble institution in its fight to rid it of few corrupt Judges whose actions is undermining not only the Judiciary but the common bond of our national life.

Ladies and gentlemen, this current operation will be sustained and followed till sanity and sanctity is restored to the esteemed third arm of government and public confidence is regained.

Members of the public are also encouraged to avail the Service of any information which could assist in this drive to rid our nation of corrupt practices and tendencies.

THANK YOU.
Abdullahi GARBA,
Department of State Services,
Abuja.
8th October, 2016.

Two Supreme Court Justices, Five Other Justices Arrested Over Bribery

The Federal Government has commenced the arrest of judges who allegedly took bribe to subvert justice in their rulings on the 2015 general elections.

The Department of State Services, DSS, last night arrested two Supreme Court justices for their alleged roles in subverting justice in favour of one of the two leading political parties in Akwa Ibom State and another state in the South East.

The secret police also apprehended three judges from Sokoto, Bauchi and Kano, who were also taken into custody.

Disclosing the arrest of the judges, a source in the Federal Ministry of Justice told Vanguard that, “The Federal Government has commenced the arrest and detention of some corrupt judges as part of its effort to cleanse the judiciary.

“This exercise has just begun and will continue until the bad eggs are flushed out to give the country a new lease of life.

”The operation may not be concluded tonight but I can assure you that we will carry it to a logical conclusion in the overall interest of the nation.”

It was learnt that a popular Federal High Court judge in Abuja from the South West and another who recently countered his colleague’s judgement relating to the ongoing crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, were also arrested.

Also, some alleged fraudulent court registrars were said to be taken into custody.

Earlier, the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike had intervened when a combined team of the DSS and the Police came for a judge in Port Harcourt .