Despite opposition from the National Judicial Council, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission today began questioning two judges accused of corruptly enriching themselves in the course of their duty.
The two Federal High Court judges, Mohammed Nasir Yunusa and Hyeladzira Ajiya Nganjiwa, were summoned to the Lagos Office of the EFCC, where they were quizzed by top operatives.
According to information made available to Vanguard, the two men arrived the EFCC’s office around 10:05 am and were immediately ushered into the interrogation room.
“Their invitation is sequel to the bribery and money laundering allegations the commission discovered during investigations in an ongoing case in which two senior lawyers have already been arraigned in court.
“The judges are presently being attended to by operatives of the commission”, a top source in the commission said.
It will be recalled that the EFCC had on March 9, 2016 arraigned two Senior Advocates of Nigerian, SANs, Rickey Tarfa SAN and Joseph Nwobike, before a Lagos High Court on allegations of offering gratification to a public official. The two senior lawyers are currently facing criminal prosecution for allegedly giving bribes to judges in order to obtain favourable judgments.
“Subsequent investigation revealed that the two Judges allegedly received sums of money from the two senior lawyers severally,” EFCC investigators said.
The grilling of the two judges comes amidst controversy generated by the arrest of seven others nationwide last week by the Department of State Security Service, DSS, in connection with graft-related offences.
Although the judges have protested the raids on their homes by the DSS, the security agency plans to arraign them any moment from now to prove their culpability or otherwise.
Two of the judges have kicked against their treatment by the DSS and have indicated readiness to challenge the DSS in court, accusing the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, of being responsible for their travails, an accusation, the AGF has demised as an afterthought.