I Was Made To Sign A Confessional Statement At Gunpoint – Justice Adeniyi Ademola

Mr Ejump

Justice Adeniyi Ademola
who was among the
judges that were
arrested and detained
last Saturday by agents
of the Department of State Security, says he
was made to sign a
confessional statement
at the DSS office with a
gun pointed at him.In a
letter addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria,
Justice Ademola alleged
that the sting operation
carried out by DSS at his
home in Abuja, was a
personal vendetta against him
masterminded by the
Attorney General of the
Federation and Minister
of Justice, Abubakar
Malami.According to Justice Ademola,
Malami is trying to get
at him because while he
was serving as a
Federal judge in Kano
between 2004-2008, he ordered the arrest of
Malami for being
involved in professional
misconduct. In the letter
addressed to the CJN,
Justice Ademola stated that the DSS operatives
held guns to his head to
sign a document
detailing items allegedly
found in his house as
well as confessional statements.DSS in a
statement released
after the arrest of the
seven judges in various
parts of the country,
stated that it recovered over N362 million
during the operation.
The arrest and
detention involved two
Supreme Court justices,
Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro, and two
judges of the Federal
High Court, Ademola
(Abuja Division) and
Muazu Pindiga (Gombe
Division), was widely criticised.Justice
Ademola’s letter to the
CJN reads in part
“Contrary to media
report being circulated,
I have never confessed to any crime or
implicated anybody,
including judges, in my
statement obtained from
me by the DSS. 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
Mallami, SAN, (who) whilst I was in Kano
between 2004 and 2008
as a Federal High Court
judge was involved in a
professional misconduct
necessitating his arrest and detention by my
order. However, with
the intervention of the
Nigerian Bar
Association, Kano
Branch, the allegation of misconduct was later
withdrawn by me.
Consequently, the
National Judicial Council
referred Abubakar
Mallami to the NBA Disciplinary Committee
for disciplinary action.
It was a result of this he
was denied the rank of
SAN by the Legal
Practitioners Privileges Committee for the
period of four years,
until when he produced
a fake letter of
apology, purportedly,
addressed to me. It was then he was conferred
with the rank. Since the
above incident,
Abubakar Mallami has
threatened to revenge
and swore to do anything to bring me
down. My Lord, with
this infringement of my
fundamental right, I
seek for the leave to
commence an action against the DSS to
encore my right that
was breached,” he
stated.Justice Ademola
also alleged that he was
arrested by the DSS because he granted bail
to former National
Security Adviser, Sambo
Dasuki, and also freed
the leader of the
Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi
Kanu.“For and interest
of my life, and unknown
persons with mask on
their faces, I collected
the written items and signed the document.
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 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 the search of
my house and arrest
were based on these
three allegations:
petition of Hon. Jenkins
Duvie dated 4th of April 2016 to the National
Judicial Council;
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.”