JUST IN: Amid criticism, DSS arrests two more top judges

– Two more high-ranked judges were arrested for alleged corruption and professional misconduct

– The source revealed that all the judges may be arraigned during the week as the agency has set a deadline for the investigation

– However, the DSS received a lot of petitions, most of them are against the judges

Some Nigerian judges

 

The operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) have on October 12, Wednesday, arrested two more top Nigerian judges, taking the number of judges so far picked up to nine, The Nation reports.

Justices Bashir Sukola and Ladan Manir of the Kaduna State High Court were arraigned in Kaduna state and taken to the DSS Headquarters in Abuja.

An insider in the agency revealed that they were immediately taken in for questioning, while six other judges are under probe.

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The DSS has also frozen the accounts of some of the judges under probe.

He added that in some of the accounts are “huge lodgments”.

The source, who asked not to be named, 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.”

 “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.”

“The NJC does not have the luxury not to suspend them. We wrote the NJC on Monday but we haven’t received any response.”

Meanwhile, the DSS has received more petitions against the judges. Many of the suitors are willing to testify against them.

There are strong signs that the judges might be arraigned in court next week because the agency has set a deadline in order not to extend the probe  of the judges beyond this week.

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Those 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).

Seven top judges were arrested by the DSS over the weekend for alleged corruption and professional misconduct.

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