By Christiana Ekpa
A member of the House of Representatives and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary, Hon. Onofiok Luke, has described the invasion of Justice Mary Peter-Odili house as a repudiation of judicial independence and an assault on the sanctity on the judiciary.
Rep. Luke, who disclosed this in a statement he made available to the newsmen in Abuja yesterday, said warrant was revoked by the issuing Magistrate who had discovered that it was procured by the Applicant on the premises of misrepresented facts.
He recalled that, “In the dusk of 29 October 2021, the Judiciary was once again exposed to public opprobrium, due to the uncanny manner in which the residence of the Honourable Justice Mary Peter-Odili of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, was invaded by law enforcement officials purportedly on an assignment to execute a search warrant, issued by a Magistrate.
He said “also disturbing is the fact that the said warrant was revoked by the issuing Magistrate who had discovered that it was procured by the Applicant on the premises of misrepresented facts.
“As a Committee currently interfacing with the Judiciary for an improved judicial reform and justice system, we wish to lend our voice once again, to the repeated call by His Lordship; the Honourable Justice Tanko Muhammed (CJN), on all Judicial Officers on the need to exercise more caution in issuing ex-parte, conflicting and questionable orders that are capable of bringing disrepute to our Justice system.
“This unfortunate development is also a wake-up call to tighten administrative and supervisory control over the operations of law enforcement agencies in the Country.
“To this end, we empathize with the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation who is constitutionally accountable for the actions and inactions of the law enforcement agents that purportedly executed the said warrant, placing on the AGF, the unavoidable burden of defending his office before the populace. On this note, the House of Representative Committee on the Judiciary calls for a discreet investigation to unravel the persons behind this ignoble act, which is capable of straining the existing relationship between the Judiciary and the Executive arms of our democratic government.
