By Ekene Aninze, Esq.
Danladi Umar and Abubakar Malami as lawyers, sold the Judiciary very cheap to the executive without any concern for what it would breed in the future.
They became willing tools that were used to weaken the Judiciary.
As Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami supervised the intimidation and midnight raids on judges’ residences.
Just to subdue judges, between October 7 and 8, 2016, the Department of State Services (DSS) conducted simultaneous midnight raids and arrests of judges across Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe, Kano, Enugu, Sokoto, and Ilorin.
The residences of Justice Sylvester Ngwuta and Justice John Okoro were raided, even though they were Justices of the Supreme Court.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, and Justice Mohammed Liman were also raided as Federal High Court judges.
In Gombe, Justice Muazu Pindiga was raided. In Kano, Justice Kabiru Auta was raided. In Enugu, Justice Innocent Umezulike was raided. In Ilorin, Justice Mohammed Tsamiya of the Court of Appeal was also raided.
That was the first time since 1999 that judges’ homes were raided in the middle of the night.
While all of that was happening, Justice Danladi Umar was used to target the number one man in the Judiciary, Walter Onnoghen.
Today, both Danladi Umar and Abubakar Malami are standing before the same courts they once helped the executive to weaken.
They are now being prosecuted by the same executive they once helped strengthen against the Judiciary.
And guess what?
Both of them will be expecting a fair trial free from executive influence.
They will be expecting nothing less than an unbiased judicial process.
The very institution they helped to weaken is now the one they will look up to for justice.
