Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, a federal judge, on Tuesday, October 18, 2016 failed to honour an invitation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
But Musa Haruna Kurya, another judge of the federal high court, reported at the commission’s Lagos office at 10 am on Tuesday in order to react to some findings in an ongoing investigation.
Kurya, accompanied by his lawyer, was attended to by the operatives of the commission on arrival.
However, Ofilli-Ajumogobia, who was also supposed to be at the commission’s office on a similar invitation, dishonoured the call and refused to show up at all.
On Monday, two federal high court judges, Mohammed Nasir Yunusa and Nganjiwa Hyledzira, reported to the EFCC Lagos office, where they were quizzed for hours.
The National Judicial Commission (NJC) had placed Ofili-Ajumogbobia on its “watch-list,” and had barred her from being elevated from her present position, owing to gross misconduct.
This episode between the EFCC and the judges appears to be part of the larger crackdown on the judiciary by the Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government.
A sister security agency to the EFCC, the State Security Services, SSS, also known as the acrimony of its mailing address, DSS, invaded the homes of seven federal judges, including two Supreme Court justices under the guise of an anti-corruption fight.
The affected judges have denied all allegations of wrong-doing in damning letters to the Chief Justice of Nigeria which implicate the DSS for human rights abuses and lawlessness and Rotimi Amaechi, the transportation minister in attempts to bribe the judges.
via TheCable
