NBA Petitions Commission, Panel Over Malami, Magistrate’s Roles In Odili’s Home Raid
The National Executive Council of the Nigerian Bar Association has resolved to file a petition against the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and Mr Emmanuel Iyanna, the Chief Magistrate in Abuja, who issued a search warrant for security officials to search the home of a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Mary Odili.
A top member of the NBA NEC said on Wednesday that Malami would be reported to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee and the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, which would consider if the AGF should be stripped of his title of a senior advocate.
“What we discovered is that a lot of the attacks on the judiciary are being sanctioned by Malami. The NBA believes that enough is enough. So, the NEC will dispatch petitions against Malami. A communiqué will be issued soon,” a member of NEC said.
Human rights lawyer, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), said a petition would be filed against Malami, while another would be sent to the Judicial Service Commission against the magistrate.
Adegboruwa, who attended the NBA NEC emergency meeting on Tuesday, said he was not satisfied with the denials by the police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the office of the AGF regarding the raid on Odili’s home.
He also argued that the magistrate’s claim that he was deceived by the Ministry of Justice into issuing the illegal search warrant was not tenable.
The senior advocate stated, “We do not accept the excuse by the magistrate that he was fooled, because no magistrate should put himself in a position that he would be fooled in any way whatsoever. And that is why we have taken a decision to file a formal charge against the magistrate before the Judicial Service Commission.
“The NBA has resolved to do that. At our national executive council meeting held yesterday (Tuesday), we resolved to file a formal complaint against the magistrate; we also resolved to file a formal complaint against the AGF and we resolved to engage the NJC to protect judicial officers.”
Adegboruwa noted that Malami’s office had constituted several panels drawn from security agencies, which act without the force of law.
He stated that the ugly trend would soon be brought to an end once investigations by the NBA were concluded.
