The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has reacted angrily to the crackdown on the judiciary, asking the President, Muhammadu Buhari administration to release the arrested judges immediately.
The association made the demand during a press conference on Saturday addressed by the association’s President AB Mahmoud and graced by past presidents, among them Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, Olisa Agbakoba SAN, JB Daudu SAN. Other prominent lawyers who were present included former Secretary Dele Adesina SAN, Kemi Pinheirro SAN, Kanyinsola Ajayi SAN, Yusuf Ali SAN, and incumbent Second Deputy National President Monday Onyekachi Ubani.
Mahmoud confirmed that among those so far arrested by the Department for State Security (DSS) are Federal High Court Justices Muazu Pindigi and Adeniyi Ademola and Supreme Court Justices John Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta. He said that the raid still continues and that those arrested have been moved to Abuja.
The NBA President urged President Buhari to call the security agencies to order. “There will be grave consequences if the judges are not released immediately,” he said, vowing that the NBA will go to any length to protect the sanctity of the judiciary.