Malami orders probe of Odili home invasion, says he can’t ‘stoop so low’ to be involved

Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, has called for an investigation into the raid on Mary Odili’s residence.

Security operatives had on Friday night invaded the house of the supreme court justice based on information that “illegal activities” were going on there.

Documents seen by TheCable showed that the search warrant was obtained after one Aliyu Ibrahim, a whistleblower, deposed to an affidavit on October 13, stating that he “observed some illegal activities” within the area.

The search warrant was granted to one Lawrence Ajodo, identified as a chief superintendent of police and a member of the investigation team under the asset tax recovery panel of the ministry of justice.

The document showed that the panel comprises the EFCC, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the ministry of justice.

Reacting in a statement issued on Saturday, Umar Gwandu, Malami’s spokesperson, said the minister would not stoop so low to associate himself with such a “nasty” court process (warrant).

“It is important to set the record straight that as the chief law officer of the federation, Malami will not stoop too low to be associated with an apparent in-elegant and nasty court process on the strength of which the purported search warrant was procured,” he said.

“The media reports on the issue depict an untidy process that could never emanate from the office of the honourable attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice.”

He also said “there is nothing called Joint Panel Recovery under the ministry of justice, in the office of the attorney-general of the federation and the entire federal ministry of justice”.

“What we have is “Assets Recovery and Management Unit” the mandate of which does not include stings operations,” the statement reads.

“The email address used on the letter and the claimed office address which as revealed by the letter headed paper is not the address of the federal ministry of justice.

“All these deductions would have assisted a discerning mind to arrive at a reasonable conclusion of criminal undertones associated with the court process on the basis of which the purported search warrant was procured.”

Malami said he has “reached out to the relevant authorities for an intensified wider investigation on the matter for necessary actions leading to the prosecution of anyone involved in the matter”.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has also refuted claims that it was involved in the raid.

Emmanuel Iyanna, the chief magistrate who issued the warrant, has revoked it on the grounds that the court was misled.