The suspects were led into Court 11 by the operatives of the Nigerian Police Force from the Force Headquarters about 01:40 pm where they will be arraigned before Justice Nkeonye Maha.

Police High Command had, on Nov. 11, paraded 15 suspects over the invasion of the Abuja residence of a Supreme Court Justice, Mary Odili, describing them as impostors unknown to any of the nation’s security forces.

Parading the suspects at the Force Headquarters Annex, Abuja, Force spokesman, Frank Mba, said that the 14 suspects include a fake Chief Superintendent of Police Lawrence Ajojo.

He said the suspects, and seven others at large, conspired to raid the residence following information that the Supreme Court justice was keeping a large sum of money in foreign currencies.

According to Mba, the seven suspects still at large include two soldiers.

He said the suspects involved in the criminal acts came from different professional backgrounds such as journalism, banking, law enforcement and law.

He said the syndicates, including one Stanley Nkwazema, a journalist, were loose canons and document forgers who were on their own and not hired by any personnel of the Ministry of Justice.

NAN reports that Justice Odili’s residence at 7, Imo Street, Maitama, Abuja, was, on October 29, allegedly invaded by armed security operatives on the grounds of an alleged tip-off by a whistleblower, one Aliyu Umar, who claimed to have observed suspicious activities at the residence. Chief Magistrate Emmanuel Iyanna was said to have approved a search warrant by a body identified as the Joint Panel Recovery Unit in the Ministry of Justice, leading to the invasion of Odili’s home.

The magistrate later revoked the order, saying he was misled while the police and other security agencies also said they were not aware of the raid.

However, the police commended the resistance put up by the security personnel attached to Odili’s residence for not allowing the suspects access to the building, saying that it could have been the greatest embarrassment to the nation if the operation had succeeded.

The siege had drawn condemnation from many Nigerians and several interest groups, including the Nigerian Bar Association, the Supreme Court, National Assembly, several state governors, civil society organisations, among others.

The Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, had separately denied authorising the raid or knowledge of it.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Department of State Services (DSS), both of which were also linked to the invasion, had denied involvement.

As of the time of filing the report, the court was yet to begin sitting.

The immigration officer is expected to be arraigned this week alongside a journalist, banker, lawyer, a fake policeman and seven others. Altogether, about 15 suspects are expected to be taken to court this week in Abuja.

However, the soldiers who allegedly took part in the raid have yet to be arrested.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, said approval had been given for all the suspects to be arraigned.

Mba said, “Yes, it is true. An immigration officer was also arrested. Approval has been given for all suspects to be arraigned,”.

The home of Justice Odili on Imo River Crescent in the Maitama area of Abuja was raided on October 29, 2021, by some men claiming to be members of the Joint Panel Recovery unit of the Federal Ministry of Justice.

The men, including soldiers, embarked on the raid after obtaining a search warrant signed by a Chief Magistrate Court

Last week, the Nigeria Police Force paraded fourteen suspects arrested in connection with the invasion of the home of Justice Odili. One of the suspects who gave his name as Lawrence Ajojo and claimed to be a Chief Superintendent of Police alleged that he is a consultant with the Justice Minister.

He said the Minister has in the past given him 29 cases to treat but that he wasn’t in the know of the plan to invade the home of Justice Odili. The Minister had immediately released a statement saying he cannot have a quack as a consultant.

In an interview with Channels TV on Sunday November 14, Malami stated that he has never seen Ajojo on planet earth.

He said “In terms of knowledge by way of either a relationship or distant or close, I do not have any relationship whatsoever with Lawrence Ajojo. I do not know him. I do not engage him. I do not instruct him formally or informally. That is the true position of things as far as Lawrence Ajojo is concerned. I have never given him a single case and if I have given him 39 cases, let him show the evidence of engagement. I have never seen this man on earth. God knows”

On Friday, October 29, security operatives made up of soldiers and police officers stormed the Abuja residence of Odili over an allegation that illegal activities were going on there.

The EFCC and the attorney-general of the federation have denied any involvement in the invasion.

The supreme court, in a statement by Festus Akande, director of press and information, said the attack was an “uncivilised and shameful show of primitive force” on the supreme court judge.

The statement reads “The attack, unfortunately, depicted a gory picture of war by some armed persons suspected to be security operatives representing different agencies of government who seemed to have come to kill and maim their target under the guise of undertaking a search whose warrant was questionable and baseless. We are deeply saddened and taken aback by this uncivilised and shameful show of primitive force on an innocent judicial officer that has so far spent several years of her productive life serving the country she calls her own. This incident brought back, rather painfully, the ugly memory of the October 2016 midnight invasion of the homes of our respected justices with no satisfactory explanations as to the true motive behind such brazen assault on our collective sensibility. We wish to make it abundantly clear that the Nigerian judiciary is the third arm of the government of the federal republic of Nigeria and should be respected and treated as such. We have had a full dosage of this fusillade of unwarranted and unprovoked attacks on our judicial officers and even facilities across the country and we say it loudly now that enough is enough. The judiciary should never be misconstrued by any individual or institution of government as the weeping child among the three arms of government that must always be chastised and ridiculed to silence because of our conservative disposition. Though there have emerged discordant tunes from the various security agencies that allegedly participated in the dastardly act, we are not lying low on this dehumanising treatment meted out to one of our own. We have commenced a full-scale independent investigation to unravel the true masquerades behind the mystery as well as the real motives behind the whole imbroglio. Similarly, we call on the inspector-general of police of the federal republic of Nigeria to rise up to the occasion by carrying out a discreet investigation and make his findings known to the Nigerian public with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice as quickly as possible. The Nigerian judiciary cannot only bark but can also bite. We can no longer be treated with disdain and levity. The rule of law and constitutionality must govern our conduct so that we can tag along with the comity of nations and be taken seriously too.”

The supreme court justice is the wife of Peter Odili, a former governor of Rivers state, who is currently on the watchlist of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The security operatives who were made up of soldiers and officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), identified themselves as members of a joint task force. They went there with a search warrant saying they received information on “illegal activities” going on in the house.

The security operatives were, however, said to have not discovered anything of interest in relation to the alleged illegal activities, and left afterwards. Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied the involvement of its operatives in the search. A statement from the antigraft agency reads

Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC spokesman, said in a statement “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to claims in a section of the media that operatives of the Commission today, October 29, 2021, stormed the Maitama, Abuja home of a Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Mary Odili, purportedly to execute a search. The Commission by this statement wishes to inform the public that the report is false as it did not carry out any operation at the home of Justice Odili. If there was any such operation as claimed by the media, it was not carried out by the EFCC. The Commission enjoins the public to discountenance the report.”

The apex court criticised Buhari for using lawyers paid by government during his election tribunal hearings.

Abdullahi Abubakar, a senior lawyer at the Ministry of Justice, has been appearing for Buhari at the tribunal. Justice Mary Odili, while reading the unanimous ruling of the five-man panel of the Supreme Court, questioned Abubakar’s appearance for Buhari, who was sued as a private citizen and not in his capacity as President.

The court said, “The representation of Mr Buhari by the Senior State Counsel of the Ministry of Justice in his personal capacity and not as Nigerian President, is inappropriate.”