DSS Bows To Pressure, Releases Justice Sylvester Ngwuta

Justice Sylvester Ngwuta.

Less than 12 hours after the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) demanded for the release of the abducted judges of the Supreme Court, the Department of State Services (DSS) has Released Justice Sylvester Ngwuta.

The President of the NBA, Mr Abubakar Mahmoud said two Supreme Court justices, Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta, were “abducted” with their families.

Mr. Mahmoud, however, called on the DSS to immediately release the judges without conditions.

The NBA President, at a press briefing in Lagos, warned the Federal Government of “grave consequences” should the demands not be met.

He stressed that the arrests are disturbing and unconstitutional, describing it as a situation that had never been witnessed.

According to him, “I want to, on behalf of the Bar Association, make the very following clear and unequivocal demands.
“We demand the immediate, unconditional release of all the judges abducted from about 9:00pm yesterday (Friday).
“The release must be done immediately and without any conditions.

“We demand that the Department of State Services (DSS) should limit itself to its statutory and constitutional responsibilities.

“It is not the responsibility of the DSS to perform duties meant for police officers and other agencies of the state.

“I want to emphasise again that we are not under military rule and we cannot accept this ‘unholy events’ and this ‘gestapo style of operations’.

“We therefore call on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately call all the state security agencies to order and to respect the rule of law and due process.

“Any issue affecting the judicial officers, there are established processes and to edited for handling them and we demand that these constitutional processes must be obeyed”.

“Given the unfolding nature of the events and the seriousness of the situation, the NBA hereby declares a state of emergency as it affects the affairs of the judiciary”. He opined.

However, we can report that Justice Ngwuta has regained his freedom few hours after the President of the NBA, Mr Abubakar Mahmoud declared a state of emergency in the judiciary over the midnight arrest of some judges by the Department of State Services (DSS).

Meanwhile, as at the time of filing this report, Justice A‎deniyi Ademola and Inyang Okoro remained in custody of the DSS.