Against the tide of condemnation that has greeted the Gestapo arrests of some judges and Justices of the Supreme Court by personnel of the Directorate of State Services (DSS),especially the condemnation of such act by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday dismissed the NBA as unserious.
Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution, Barrister Okoi Obono Obla, while fieldind questions on Channels TV dawn public discourse programme, Sunrise Daily, told the NBA to wake up from its unseriousness and join hands with the Presidency to fight corruption in the system.
The President’s adviser said the NBA was fully aware of the rot and corruption in the judiciary and cannot pretend any more that all was well in the judiciary.
His response on Channels TV was an extension of his briefing at the weekend with the media at his family residence in Ugep, Cross River State, where he described the arrest of senior Judges across the country as an unprecedented record of achievements in the ongoing anti-corruption fight.
In his explanation, the Nigerian big man wants us to have two standards of justice: One for him and another for the poor “and we say no to that.
“The big man should not do anything and get away with it in this country. The poor people are being arrested every day and nobody talks about them.
“Everybody should be subjected to the law. If the President does not have immunity, he can be arrested. The Senate President was arraigned and put on trial. So what is wrong with arresting Supreme Court Justices?
“They will be arraigned before the court and the Department of States Security DSS carried out their operations constitutionally with a bench warrant and are free to do their work at any time of the day.
“The Nigerian Big man” must change his mentality and subject himself to the law.
“It is unprecedented in Africa for senior Judges to be arrested for corruption and you say we are not fighting corruption?
“Judges are partly responsible, the corrupt lawyers are partly responsible; because they ‘block’, they fight, and they stall; if a big man is involved, they weep up sentiments; oh! the President is a Muslim fighting Christians, oh the President is Fulani, he is fighting Ibibio, oh
President is fighting Igbos, fighting Efiks, fighting Anangs. They whip up sentiments and think that they are above the law.
“That is the problem, when you go after them, they weep up sentiments that the President is this and that but the poor people go to prison every day and nobody talks about them. They will even manipulate the media. Like Dasuki wants you to believe that the federal government is against the order asking for his release, it’s a blatant lie. So that is it, the Nigerian big man does not want the rule of law to reign in this country. But, we insist that the rule of law must reign.”
