The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Wednesday said there
was nothing wrong in the arrest of judges’ in the fight against
corruption. Briefing State House correspondents at the end of Federal Executive
Council (FEC) meeting presided by President Mohammadu Buhari, he said:
“What the government is concerned and passionate about is to fight corruption. In the process of fighting corruption, it is not unusual that you step on some very sensitive toes but the question to ask and I think these has been adequately answered by the Attorney General is that let’s remove emotion from facts.
“One, do judges have immunity? The answer is no. Can judges be arrested? The answer is yes. Have judges that are serving been arrested in Nigeria? The answer is yes. Justice Okoli had been arrested and tried.
“Now the next question to ask is what is the proper procedure for arresting anybody including judges? There must be properly executing of the search warrant. Was such presented? The answer again is yes. People have tried to muddle the facts about when do you search the person’s house, the truth of the matter is that under the new criminal justice law, you can search anybody, anywhere, anytime.
“Again they have tried to muddle issues by trying to say that the NJC is the only authority that can attend complain and discipline, the answer once again is no,” he added.
