The seven senior judges arrested weekend by the Department of State Security (DSS) over corruption allegations were granted bail yesterday.
A top security source confirmed to Daily Trust that the judges were released on bail Sunday night on personal recognizance.
The judges “reported yesterday (Monday) to the DSS headquarters and they will be coming back today,” the security source said.
The seven judges were part of the 15 senior judges under investigation by the security agency over corrupt practices. They are: Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court; Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja; Kabir Auta of the Kano High Court; Mu’azu Pindiga of the Gombe High Court, Mohammed Tsamiya of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin; and the Chief Judge of Enugu State Justice I. A. Umezulike.
The DSS source said the judges “were all released on bail yesterday (Sunday) on self- recognizance. They reported this morning (Monday) and they have all gone back home. They will be coming back tomorrow. And everything went very procedurally well and civil.”
“They were released on bail on self -recognizance based on the fact that given their standing in the society, they cannot run away.
The source said the judges “were allowed access to their families and they are cooperating with us. We still respect them. They are not being treated like common criminals.”
“They were instructed that they should come back today by 10am. They did report for investigation this morning and they have gone back home. And the investigation continues and preparation to charge them to court,” the security source said.
He said the arrest of the judges took a dramatic turn weekend because of the National Judicial Council (NJC) refusal to allow the DSS question the affected judges.
The weekend raid was “sequel to lack of cooperation by National Judicial Council; such as refusal by the NJC to allow the affected persons to be questioned by the DSS.”
He said the graft investigation against the judges “started some seven months ago, precisely in April 2016.”
