Invasion of Justice Odili’s home: Malami kicks as suspect says he works for him

*Documents presented during raid on Justice Odili’s home ‘fraudulently obtained’ – Police

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Thursday, debunked the claim of one of the suspects arrested by the Police in connection with the raid on the residence of Justice Mary Odili of the Supreme Court.

Recall that on October 30, security operatives made up of soldiers and police officers, stormed the Maitama Abuja residence of the Supreme Court justice over an allegation that illegal activities were going on there.

Parading the suspects at the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Garki, Abuja, on Thursday, Force spokesman, Frank Mba, said the suspects involved in the criminal act came from different professional backgrounds.

He said the suspects include a fake chief superintendent of police (CSP), a journalist, and an Islamic scholar.

Mba said 10 other suspects, including two military personnel, are currently at large.

One of the suspects, Lawrence Ajodo told journalists at the briefing that he was not a police officer, adding that he was a consultant to the AGF.

“I am not an officer of the Nigeria Police but a consultant for the AGF; he did not send us to raid Mrs Odili’s house,” he stated.

But in a statement by Dr. Umar Gwandu, spokesman to the AGF, Malami described the said confession as “an orchestrated attempt to stir unnecessary controversies and public apprehension”.

The statement reads in part: “The attention of the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to a confession of a suspect during interrogation in the investigation of the recent invasion of the residence of the highly respected Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Mary Peter Odili.

“With all the competent, high level professionals and capable human resources available at the disposal of the honourable attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, it only takes the imagination of the evil minds to assume or think that the honourable attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice will descend so low to engaging a quack or fake police officer to serve as his consultant.

“This is a case of a drowning man scavenging for a dying partner. We are happy to note that investigation has commenced to unravel the circumstances and personalities behind the invasion and sponsored campaign of calumny against the honourable attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice.”

While challenging the suspect to present evidence, Malami said the investigation will reveal “those dragging his personality, his name and his exalted office in the dirty politics of disrepute”.

“We asked the suspect to present documents of engagements where he worked as a consultant to the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, whether in past or now,” he said.

“Consultant for what? Which activity or assignment? When was he engaged? What were the terms of references for the alleged consultancy service? When was he engaged? Where was he engaged? Which worked has he executed for the honourable attorney-general of the federation and the ministry of justice? For what duration? And for how much?

“We boldly and unequivocally challenge the fake consultant/police officer to come out with answers or responses to these questions to the general public.

“The honourable attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice superintends over and respects the rule of law and will not do anything to undermine the sanctity of his office and that entire judiciary and justice sector,” the AGF added.

Meanwhile, Force spokesman, Frank Mba, at the briefing, said some of the suspects arrested over the invasion of the residence of Justice Mary Odili “forged documents”.

He said the signature of AGF Malami seen on one of the documents presented during the raid was “fraudulently obtained”.

Mba said: “In the course of our investigation, we discovered that the man who was acclaimed to be a chief superintendent of police — Lawrence Ajodo — is in fact not a police officer; he is an impostor.

“He is not one of us, neither is he known to be an officer with any of the other primary law enforcement agencies in the country.

“We discovered that although the team — this syndicate — actually obtained a search warrant, that particular search warrant was obtained based on false representations that were made.

“The search warrant contained 9, Imo River Street, but the house they attempted to gain access into actually is number 7.

“We also discovered that the identity card, which was purported to have been issued by the office of attorney-general and which actually bears the signature of the attorney-general and minister of justice, is also a forged document.

“The signature that was superimposed on that ID card was also fraudulently obtained and fraudulently imposed on that document.

“The crime was a well-conceived one with actors drawn from different fields of human endeavours. It was a web-like arrangement with members of the syndicate having backgrounds in different fields such as law, journalism, banking and even some rogue law enforcement agents.

“Impersonation, criminal trespass, perjury, forgery and other types of crime that might be uncovered against them will likely be contained in the charge sheet.

“We’ve also discovered that there is no involvement at all of the officials of the federal ministry of justice in this case.

“These criminals are loose cannons, who were all out forging different documents and trying to carry out their crimes under all kinds of false representation.”

The statement of the Police on the arrest of the suspects titled, Invasion of Abuja Residence of Justice Mary Odili: Police arrest 14 suspects for Conspiracy, Forgery, Personation and Criminal Trespass, said: “The suspects — Ajodo Lawrence ‘m’ (principal suspect); Michael Diete-Spiff ‘m’; Bar. Alex Onyekuru ‘m’; Bayero Lawal ‘m’; Bar. Igwe Ernest ‘m’; Aliyu Umar Ibrahim ‘m’; Maimuna Maishanu ‘f’; Ayodele Akindipe ‘m’; Yusuf Adamu ‘m’; Bashir Musa ‘m’; ASP Mohammed Yahaya ‘m’; Stanley Nkwazema ‘m’; Shehu Jibo ‘m’; Abdullahi Adamu ‘m’, L/CPL Mike (other name unknown) ‘m’ — are members of a well-organised criminal gang with a web-like involvement of individuals drawing from their different competences, professional backgrounds and social contacts in perfecting the criminal plot.

Membership of the syndicate include suspects with backgrounds in public service, business, law, journalism, banking, amongst others”.