…EFCCÂ Denies Raid on Justice Odili’s Residence
Tons of security operatives stormed the Abuja residence of Supreme Court Judge, Justice Mary Odili on Friday armed to teeth and with a “wrongly” addressed warrant allegedly obtained from the federal Ministry of Justice to search the property
The security operatives who were suspected to be majority from the Police did not put on any uniform for proper identification.
Anonymous souces say there arrival at about 6pm following a tip-off that some certain activities were taking place on the property
The suspected police officers were joined in the operation by another unidentified squad of military officers.
They had seized the entire perimeter of the house, blocking the entrance using one of their covered plate-numbered vehicles
A few of them gained access into the building forcefully, but were unable to get to Justice Odili’s Master Bedroom
The raid lasted over an hour; enough time to call the attention of many who rushed to the home of the justice of the Supreme Court to find out what was going on.
Confirming the incident, lawyer to Justice Odili, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome described the invasion as “unfortunate and embarrassing.
He faulted the search warrant the security operatives allegedly came with on two grounds.
First was that the document had no name on it and secondly that it had a wrong address.
According to Ozekhome, while the warrant had on it, No 9, IMO Street, Odili’s house is on No 7 IMO River, Maitama.
Ozekhome however did not rule out the theory that the invasion could have been politically motivated.
River State Governor, Nysom Wike who was in Abuja for PDP National Convention quickly rushed to the scene almost as soon as he got wind of what had happened but declined to speak to journalists on ground.
Others who rushed to the home of Justice Odili were former Minister of Transport, Abiye Sekibo , Founder/Chairman Emeritus, DAAR Communication, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, former Deputy Speaker, River State , Austin Opara, a number of former federal lawmakers including Senator Aniete Okon, senator Mao Ohuabunwa, and Senator Lee Maeba.
Others were former Minister of State for Trade and Industry
, Kenneth Kobani and Honorable Igo Aguma who narrated the gestapo manner the security operatives forced themselves into the compound; afraid that Nigeria had fallen back to those heinous days when independent judges where hounded down, harassed and intimidated.
Speaking to journalists, Senator Betty Apiafi who currently represents Justice Odili in the Senate also condemned the invasion in very strong terms; describing it as “ unnecessary harassment”.
She also did not rule out the possibility that the incident has political links even as she expressed shock that none of the security agencies has owned up to the invasion.
In the meantime, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has denied carrying out any raid at the Abuja home of Supreme court judge, Mary Odili.
In a statement by the commission’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, The EFCC said it’s attention has been drawn to claims in a section of the media that operatives of the Commission on 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 the statement said the report is false, as it did not carry out any operation at the home of Justice Odili.
Uwujaren further said If there was any such operation as claimed by the media, it was not carried out by the EFCC.
The EFCC also enjoined the public to discountenance the report.
Justice Mary Odili is wife to frontline Nigerian politician and former Governor of River State , Peter Odili and the
invasion on her home comes few hours to the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Abuja.
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