The Department of State Service (DSS) has so far arrested seven judges across the nation in an operation which began on Friday which the Presidency claimed was launched to rid the nation of corrupt judges.
The Department also revealed that eight more judges are to be arrested in the next few days.
Premium Times quotes an official of DSS as confirming that operatives still have at least eight more arrests to make, one of which is a Supreme Court judge.
The eight are said to be part of 15 judges that are under investigation by the SSS for alleged corrupt practices. Seven of the 15 were arrested this weekend and the remaining eight will soon be picked up.
The seven judges arrested and currently in detention at the SSS office as at Sunday, October 9 evening are Justice Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court; Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja; Kabir Auta of Kano High Court; Muazu Pindiga of the Gombe High Court, Mohammed Tsamiya of the Court of Appeal in Ilorin, and the Chief Judge of Enugu State, I. A. Umezulike.
Besides the judges, at least three members of the registry staff of relevant courts were also invited for questioning by the SSS and have made “relevant statements.”
The judges are being allowed access to their families.
Meanwhile, the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has threatened to embark on strike if the arrested judges were not released by the government.
The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) also expressed its opposition to the arrest of the judges and called on the government to release them or face action.
Lagos-based lawyer and human rights activist also called on the federal government to release the judges by granting them bail.
