Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, has warned that Nigeria’s judiciary has had enough of the embarrassment of its officers and would not take kindly to a repeat of any ugly treatment from security operatives.
Muhammad gave the warning on Wednesday at an event to mark the 2021 to 2022 legal year held at the Supreme Court.
“The silence of the judiciary should never be mistaken for stupidity or weakness.
“On a very sad note, I must say, we were jolted with the embarrassing news of the invasion of the official residence of one of our brother Justices, Mary Odili on October 29 by men suspected to be security operatives, acting on a search warrant.
“The said warrant was purportedly obtained from an Abuja Magistrate court under questionable circumstances.
“I must make it known to all and sundry that we have had enough dosage of such embarrassment and harassment of our Judicial officers across the country, and we can no longer take any of such shenanigans,” he said.
He said that by the nature of their work, they are conservative but not conquered species and should not be pushed further than this by any individual, institution or agency of the government.
“With time, those taking the judiciary as a mere weakling will soon realise that it is from the calmest seas, we often experience the fiercest storms.
“The time to oppress, suppress and intimidate judicial officers is gone.
“No one, irrespective of his or her status or position in the country, should test our will because the consequences of such unwarranted provocation will be too dire to bear”.
He stressed that judicial officers would begin to resist any clandestine attempt to silence or ridicule them to oblivion.
“Nigeria, to the best of my knowledge, is not a lawless society and we should begin to do things that will project us favourably and rightly too, to the international community.
“No law permits anyone to invade and subdue any Nigerian citizen of his or her residence with a flimsy, fraudulently obtained search warrant.
“We are making efforts now to ensure that henceforth, every search or arrest warrant must be issued with the knowledge and approval of the Chief Judge of the respective state or Federal High Court as the case may be”, the CJN said.
