The Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) has condemned the raid of
\nresidences of some judges in Nigeria, and the arrest of some of them by
\nthe Department of state Services (DSS).<\/p>\n
It described the night raid as a flagrant assault on the rule of law and
\ninterference with the integrity and independence of judges, saying it
\namounts to crass intimidation of judges, which is the first line of attack
\nof dictatorships.<\/p>\n
Attack On The Judiciary<\/p>\n
LEDAP called on all lawyers to rise in unison to condemn what it called an
\nattack on the judiciary by the executive and in protest boycott the courts
\nnext week from Monday, October 10 to Friday, October 14.<\/p>\n
It said the action would send a strong message to the President Buhari
\nregime that the legal profession would not stand by and watch the
\ndesecration and denigration of the judiciary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is to the detriment of the Bar and Bench in Nigeria for the security
\nagencies to make spurious allegations and illegally try judges in the
\npages of newspapers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt raises wrong and unjustified public perception of the justice system,
\nand impugns on public confidence in justice and governance,\u201d a statement
\nby the spokesman for LEDAP, Chino Obiagwu, read.<\/p>\n
The group asked the Federal Government to investigate and punish security
\nofficials implicated in the unwholesome act.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was wrong to execute improperly issued and illegally executed search
\nwarrants at night on judges, and in any event, without prior recourse to
\nthe head of the judiciary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe constitutional principle of separation of powers is sacrosanct and
\nonce eroded, will drive Nigeria to a tyranny,\u201d Chino Obiagwu added.
\nIt is the second group that is threatening to scuttle judicial activities
\nif the arrested judges were not released.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Nigerian Bar Association has called for the immediate and
\nunconditional release of the judges.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0group\u00a0said their arrest was unconstitutional, declaring a state of
\nemergency in the judiciary.<\/p>\n
It says the arrests are disturbing and unconstitutional, describing it a
\nsituation that had never been witnessed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) has condemned the raid of residences of some judges in Nigeria, and the arrest of some of them by the Department of state…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n