"DSS Planted Millions Of Naira In My House" - Justice Ngwuta Writes CJN

[quote author=Clerverly post=50374156] Then the next phase of the ordeal started. I was taken to a room where I met my learned brother, Hon. Justice John Inyang Okoro, JSC. He looked spent and so were other Judicial Officers both serving, sacked and retired. No one told me anything or asked me any question till late in the night when they drove from over one hour to a place they called villa. They took Justice Okoro and myself into a room that contained only a bed with a discarded, stained old mattress and both of us had to share it for the night. There was no towel, no soap and worst of all there was no toilet paper. We slept in our clothes, went under the tap and used our handkerchiefs in place of towels.

12. The next day, Sunday, we were driven back to the office. I was taken to a room where two operatives fired questions at me in quick succession. I answered as much as I could in the circumstances. I pleaded with them to tell me why I was abducted and detained and subjected to endless questioning.I also asked why everyone kept mute over the huge sums of money allegedly recovered in my house but none of the two men would answer my question. We were allowed to go home Sunday night only as a result of the intervention of the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Hon. Justice Mahmud Mohammed, GCON. We were ordered to return on Monday and since then we have been reporting daily to them.

13. On Friday last week, I was ordered to report by 10 am. Justice Okoro and I were required to appear before the Judiciary Committee of the Senate. We told our stories to the Senators and rushed from them to meet our interrogators. On one particular occasion, I was taken to, and locked up, in their different rooms. Each room had only a table and a set of chairs and I was kept for about one and half hours in each room. No one was with me in any of the rooms.

14. My Noble Lord, I am a victim of my own resolve never to violate my sacred oath of office as a Judicial Officer. Politicians and their collaborators have been hunting me on that account. It started in Ebonyi State where I was falsely accused before a panel set up by NJC in August 2000. It was replicated in 2009 when I was pulled from my Division, Calabar, to preside over a motion filed by Senator Andy Uba seeking to be a Governor without going through the process of election. In each case I was exonerated.

15. My present plight started sometime between 2013 and 2014. I represented the then Chief Justice of Nigeria in an event organised in the International Conference Centre.Hon. Rotimi Amaechi came in late and sat next to me at the high table. He introduced himself to me and we exchanged contacts. A few weeks after, Fayose’s case was determined in the Court of Appeal. Amaechi called me by 6.45 am. He said he had come to see me but was told I had left for my office. When he said he would return in the evening, I demanded to know what he wanted but he would not tell me. He did not come that evening but came the following morning when I was already prepared to go to work. He begged me to ensure that Fayose’s election was set aside and another election ordered for his friend Fayemi to contest. I told him I would not help him and that even if I am on the panel I have only my one vote.

16. After the Rivers State Governorship election was determined by the Court of Appeal, he called to tell me his ears were full and he would like to tell me what he heard. I told him I was out of Abuja at the time. On my return he came in the evening and even before he sat down he barked “You have seen Wike”. I asked him whether that was a question or a statement. Then he made a call and asked me to speak with someone. The man he called said he was a DSS man. We exchanged greetings and I handed the phone to him. Next, he said “Oga is not happy”. I asked him who is the unhappy “Oga” and he answered “Buhari”. I retorted “go and talk to his wife”. He got very angry, and left, remarking “we shall see” several times.

17. Your Lordship may recall one morning when I pleaded not be on the Panel for Rivers Appeal. Your Lordship said I was already on the Panel and asked me to explain why I made the request to be excluded. When I explained what transpired the previous night, Your Lordship told me Amaechi had also attempted to influence other Justices. My Lord, on the day we heard the appeal with your Lordship presiding, we were allowed lunch break at 4.20 pm. The moment I got into my Chambers he, Amaechi, called. When he told who was calling, I said to him, “Your Excellency, you want to issue more threats”? He replied “Have you been threatened before?” I replied “I know a threat when I hear one even if veiled. In any case I will not talk to you” and I switched off my phone.

18. The people who failed in their attempt to destroy me in Ebonyi in 2000 and in Enugu in Andy Uba’s case in the Court of Appeal, Enugu in 2009 are now supplying Amaechi with information to fight me for my negative response to his demands, especially my answer to his statement that “Oga was not happy”.This infuriated him and as he stormed out he said he would deal with the situation.

19. The incident I will narrate below may or may not bear on this case. When the Governorship Election appeal from my State, Ebonyi, came to the Court of Appeal, one Mr. Igwenyi, a Senior staff of Federal Judicial Service Commission came to my Chambers and told me that the former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu had pleaded with him to convince me to see him, Dr. Onu. I asked him to call Dr. Onu; he did and I wanted to know why he wanted to see me. He said it was confidential. I asked when he wanted to see me and he said he would like me to come in the evening. I told Igwenyi that he would have to take me to Dr. Onu in his car and bring me back. I had wanted him to listen to what Dr. Onu had to say but when we arrived, Dr Onu put him in a different room. He asked me whether I know the Hon. President of the Court of Appeal and I told him that His Lordship was my Presiding Justice in the Court of Appeal, Benin Division. He asked of my relationship with the PJA and I said it was cordial. He nodded his head several times in apparent satisfaction.

20. He told me that the candidate for the Labour Party was ready to switch over to APC if he could help him win the appeal in the Court of Appeal and that in appreciation of the undertaking to come over to his party, he had obtained the services of three Justices of the Court of Appeal to ensure victory for Labour Party. He said he needed one to convince the PJA to include his three Justices of the Court of Appeal in the five-man panel to hear the appeal. I told him I would not help him and that I could not in good conscience convey such request even to a Customary Court Judge. He was disappointed and asked me whether I knew the husband of the PJA. I told him I did not know the man. I bid him good night and left. Igwenyi joined me in the passage and when he drove me back to my home I told him what Dr. Onu wanted. Igwenyi apologised to me and assured me that he would not have bothered me if he had known what Dr. Onu wanted me to do.

21. In addition to the above I have been subjected to visits to the DSS offices. I was made to stay idle for the whole day, without food or even water. On 17th October, 2016 I went to the DSS office to collect my passports as directed. I was to be there by 10 am but I arrived by 9.30 am and I was assured that I would return to my office in no time. I was kept there till 3.45 pm before I was questioned on the passports till 5.00 pm. After that, one of them took the passports to his boss. He returned an hour later, handed me my passports and told me he had finished with me but that only the man in whose office I was could let me go. I was only allowed to go about 10 pm with a warning to report at 10 am on 18thOctober 2016. From 9.30 am to 10 pm I was not given water or food.
22. I am on my way to the DSS office and who knows if and when I will be allowed to leave the place.

23. My Lord, the facts stated here in can be verified.

24. Attached is an Affidavit deposed by me in the Supreme Court Registry to this effect.

Yours faithfully


NWALI SYLVESTER UNGWUTA
JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT


http://barandbenchwatch.com/dss-raid-another-scourt-judge-justice-ngwuta-opens-pandora-box/[/quote]