One of the judges of the Federal High Court arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) last weekend, Adeniyi Ademola, has said he was being tried for granting bail to ex-NSA, Sambo Dasuki and ruling that Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, be freed. In a letter dated October 11, addressed to Mahmoud Mohammed, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ademola said he was held for over 24 hours before he was told the reason why he was brought to the DSS office. “Upon signing the document, they told me that I am under arrest and ordered me with guns still pointed at me to move outside.
As I was going, they told me they were taking me to their office, Department of State Services (DSS) office, without showing any warrant of arrest. “I obeyed them and about six o’clock in the morning, I was whisked away from my residence to the DSS office without any warrant of arrest or reason for my arrest.
“From the time of my arrival at the DSS office, at about 6:45am on 8/10/2016, I was not told what my crime was for over 24 hours till the evening of 9/10/2016. “A DSS official finally informed me that my arrest were based on these three allegations: petition of Hon. Jenkins Duvie dated 4th of April 2016 to the National Judicial Council (NJC); granting bail to Col. Sambo Dasuki and the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu; and using my office to secure my wife’s appointment as the Head of Civil Service, through Senator Bola Tinubu,” the letter read.
Ademola said he saw his arrest as revenge from Abubakar Malami, Attorney- General of the Federation (AGF), whose arrest and detention he ordered over a professional misconduct while he was judge in Kano between 2004 and 2008.
“What is more intriguing in this whole episode, is that I see it as a vendetta/ revenge from the Hon. Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami; whilst I was in Kano between 2004 and 2007 as a Federal High Court judge, he was involved in a professional misconduct necessitating his arrest and detention by my order,” he said.
Justice Ademola said operatives later presented him with a list of items that were found in his home which could be used as exhibits, but he initially declined to sign the paper. “They threatened me that if I did not sign it they would not leave me alone and whatever they did to me at that point would be recorded that I will not be alive to tell the story of what transpired between me and them that night. “For fear and interest of my life, and unknown persons with masks on their faces, I collected the written items and signed the document,” the Justice said.
The judge said he has been putting up at a hotel in downtown Abuja and sought permission to proceed on leave during which he intended to pursue a remediation for alleged breach of his fundamental rights by the DSS. Special Assistant to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Mr. Ahurakah Isah, confirmed to Sunday Telegraph last night that the office of the CJN received such a letter from the embattled justice of the Supreme Court.
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