Falana said this while tasking a three-member panel of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) constituted to probe the recent raid of Odili’s Abuja house by security agents.
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has said the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, should produce the police officers that led a joint task force of military men and policemen to raid the residence of a Supreme Court judge, Mary Odili in Abuja, last Friday.
Falana said this while tasking a three-member panel of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) constituted to probe the recent raid of Odili’s Abuja house by security agents.
The senior lawyer also urged the committee to question the Chief Magistrate of Wuse Zone 6 in Abuja, Emmanuel Iyanna, that signed the search warrant.
Recall that Iyanna said he was misled by the Attorney-General of Federation, Abubakar Malami, into signing the search warrant based on a whistleblower’s information from an Abuja resident, Aliyu Umar.
BOSAN, therefore, raised a panel including Adegboyega Awomolo, Prof Yemi Akinseye-George and Jibrin Okutepa to investigate the matter.
Reacting to the setting up of the panel, Falana the culprits of the invasion of a former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili’s wife's house should be investigated, arrested and prosecuted.
Falana said, “It was reported yesterday that a 3-member Committee of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) met with the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN over the illegal search of the residence of the Honourable Justice Mary Peter-Odili at Abuja on Friday, October 29, 2021.
“Having listened to the Attorney-General, the Committee should proceed to interview the victim of the illegal raid, the Honourable Justice Peter-Odili, the lawyers who applied for the search warrant, the Magistrate who issued the search warrant as well as the heads of the police and military personnel who executed the search warrant.
“In particular, the Magistrate ought to be interrogated over his claim that he was misled to issue the search warrant by the Ministry of Justice. The Committee should confirm the report that the Magistrate has, suo motu, revoked the search warrant.
“In view of the denial of the involvement of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the State Security Services, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Nigeria Police Force in the execution of the illegal search warrant the BOSAN may wish to inquire from the Inspector-General of Police, the highly placed public officer who deployed a combined team of military and police personnel for the operation.
“Upon the conclusion of the investigation of the incident, the BOSAN should publish the report of its findings. Thereafter, the BOSAN should, in conjunction with the Nigerian Bar Association, constitute a team of lawyers to prosecute the suspects that have been arrested by the Police for subjecting the Honourable Justice Mary Peter-Odili to mental and psychological torture in contravention of section 2 of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017.”