Justice Ngwuta's Letter Over The Dss Invasion And Allegations
18th October, 2016
My Lord, The Hon. the Chief Justice of Nigeria
& Chairman,
National Judicial Council
Supreme Court Complex
ABUJA
My Lord
INVASION OF MY HOUSE IN THE NIGHT, PLANTING OF HUGE SUMS OF MONEY IN
DIFFERENT CURRENCIES, PURPORTED RECOVERY OF THE MONEY, CARTING AWAY OF MY
DOCUMENTS AND OTHER VALUABLE ITEMS AND MY SUBSEQUENT ABDUCTION BY MASKED
OPERATIVES OF THE DSS BETWEEN FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7TH AND SATURDAY, OCTOBER
8TH, 2016
1. Some days before Friday, 7th October, 2016 I started feeling
symptoms of malaria attack. Any malaria drug keeps me drowsy and sleeping
for days and since I had to go to work I decided to hang on until Friday
to take the drug after work.
2. I returned from work late Friday afternoon, had a meal and took
the medication I got from Dr. Ukah of the Supreme Court Medical Centre.
By 7.30 pm I was already in bed having switched off my hand sets. After a
little while my house maid knocked on the door to my bedroom. I
reluctantly dragged myself to the door. She told me that a group of
people wanted to see me. I told her to inform whoever wanted to see me
that night that I do not see visitors in the night, that they could come
to see me in day time. I went back to sleep. I could not tell how long
later that I heard knocks on the door. I ignored the knocks but when my
house girl continued knocking on the door I managed to get up and opened
the door. She told me that some people said that the President sent them
to me. I got out of the room to find that a large number of people some
of whom wore face masks and hand gloves were everywhere in the ground
floor. I told my house maid to ask the people to meet me in my study next
door to the bedroom.
3. They rushed into my study, one of them said his name was John.
He flashed a card to me and showed me what he said was a search warrant.
My vision was blurred as a result of the malaria and the drug I took.
They had drawn guns. I was terrified and I thought they had a more
sinister mission than a mere search. I made to know whether the Chief
Justice of Nigeria knew of their mission. One of them contemptuously spat
“Who is Chief Judge of Nigeria”. I brought out my handset to call the
Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, they would not let me do so. Rather
they collected my three phones and another phone that I had discarded. I
lay down on the seat in the parlour downstairs while they turned
everything upside down on the ground floor.
When they finished downstairs they demanded that I should show them the
rooms on the next floor. Again I had to lie down on the seat in the room
while they turned everything upside down. I had to go to another seat
when they want to upturn the seat I occupied. One of them saw the sum of
forty thousand naira (N40,000.00) and one thousand naira notes in one of
the drawers. He was excited and called their lead who saw the money and
said “This is not the kind of money we came to pick”. They left the
N40,000.000.
4. In the next bedroom I lay on the bed out of sight of the
wardrobe from which they brought some boxes and brief cases and travelling
bags. All the bags and briefcases and travelling bags except one
contained only magazines, papers and some old clothing. Some were empty.
Only one small bag was locked with a padlock and this was the only bag
that contained money. They directed me to come over and remove the
padlock. I retrieved the key from the side pocket of the bag and removed
the padlock and returned to my bed. They put the bags together by the
toilet door. They called me again and asked me whether the bags were my
property and I answered they were my property. None of the bags were
neither opened in my presence nor in the presence of my housemaid who was
the only person in the house with me at all material times.
5. Some of them stayed in the room while I took them to my study.
At this time I became very dizzy and I had to return to lie down on a seat
in the parlour and a man with a gun and a face mask stood over me while I
dozed. He followed each time I went to the toilet. Another one followed
my housemaid each time I asked her for water. There was no way out of the
house. They were at all doors. Those searching and those outside the
house went into the house through the main door, kitchen door and back
doors. They went in and out of every room including the room in which the
bags were kept. I dozed intermittently but my house girl was kept sitting
on the steps and was able to observe them coming through the kitchen door
but she could not see those who came from back doors, took the second
steps and went in and out of the rooms on the upper floor.
6. After many hours they came down to the sitting room downstairs
and told me they were going to bring down the bags.
I was speechless when I saw them bringing out huge bundles of different
currencies from the bags that had contained only magazine papers and old
clothes and some were empty. Some were contained in multi-coloured
plastic bags which they tore and discarded. They put the money in
different bags and brief cases and then proceeded to count a large amount
of N5, N10, N20 and N50 notes which was the change I returned each time I
went to shop over the years. They kept waking me up to ask how I came
about the small denomination of naira notes. No one asked me any question
about the huge sums of money they put in the bags.
7. One of them came to where I was lying down and ordered me to
sit up. One of the gun men who stood a few feet from me came and stood
next to me with his gun drawn. I was ordered to sign a paper which they
said contained a list of what they were taking away. Confronted with the
life-threatening situation I made an instant mental decision that it was
better for me to comply with their orders and stay alive to tell my story
rather than get shot and killed on the pretext that I attacked them or
that I tried to escape. I signed the paper and wrote my name as ordered.
No one told me what offence I was alleged to have committed. No one told
me of any petition or allegation against me.
8. The only bag that contained money was the small bag i locked
with a padlock which I unlocked when ordered to do so. The bag contained
the sum of $25,000, £10 = = and a brown envelope containing the sum of
N710,000 which was a monthly allowance paid to me for September 2016. In
the brief case, which I carry to my office daily, I had the sum of
N300,000 and some loose change. The above are the only sums of money
taken from me along with my phones, papers and other household items. I
do not know how they came about the huge sums of money I saw for the first
time in my parlour on the early hours of Saturday, 8th October, 2016. The
various sums of money alleged to have been recovered from me were said to
be in the social media in the early hours of Saturday, 8th October, 2016
when the invaders were yet to complete their search.
9. They took me away in their vehicle but before they drove away
they ordered my housemaid to get in and lock the house and not to ever
come out
or let anyone into the house. It was when I saw DSS in the premises into
which they drove me that I realized my invaders were agents of a Federal
Government Department. Prior to getting into the premises I thought that
the invaders were even armed robbers or kidnappers, more so when I was not
questioned by anyone about anything.
10. Then I became much more disturbed not only for myself but for the
future of this great Nation, Nigeria. I could not convince myself that
any agency of the Federal Government, in a democratic setting, could for
any undisclosed reason violate the rights of a Nigerian citizen, a
Judicial Officer and Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, for that
matter with such impunity. I thought that the democratic government had
been overthrown and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
1999 (as amended) abolished or suspended.
11. Then the next phase of the ordeal started. I was taken to a room
where I met my learned brother, Hon. Justice John Inyang Okoro, JSC. He
looked spent and so were other Judicial Officers both serving, sacked and
retired. No one told me anything or asked me any question till late in
the night when they drove from over one hour to a place they called
villa. They took Justice Okoro and myself into a room that contained only
a bed with a discarded, stained old mattress and both of us had to share
it for the night. There was no towel, no soap and worst of all there was
no toilet paper. We slept in our clothes, went under the tap and used our
handkerchiefs in place of towels.
12. The next day, Sunday , we were driven back to the office. I was
taken to a room where two operatives fired questions at me in quick
succession. I answered as much as I could in the circumstances. I
pleaded with them to tell me why I was abducted and detained and subjected
to endless questioning. I also asked why everyone kept mute over the huge
sums of money allegedly recovered in my house but none of the two men
would answer my question. We were allowed to go home Sunday night only as
a result of the intervention of the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria, the
Hon. Justice Mahmud Mohammed, GCON. We were ordered to return on Monday
and since then we have been reporting daily to them.
13. On Friday last week, I was ordered to report by 10 am . Justice
Okoro and I were required to appear before the Judiciary Committee of the
Senate. We told our stories to the Senators and rushed from them to meet
our interrogators. On one particular occasion, I was taken to, and locked
up, in their different rooms. Each room had only a table and a set of
chairs and I was kept for about one and half hours in each room. No one
was with me in any of the rooms.
14. My Noble Lord, I am a victim of my own resolve never to violate
my sacred oath of office as a Judicial Officer. Politicians and their
collaborators have been hunting me on that account. It started in Ebonyi
State where I was falsely accused before a panel set up by NJC in August
2000. It was replicated in 2009 when I was pulled from my Division,
Calabar, to preside over a motion filed by Senator Andy Uba seeking to be
a Governor without going through the process of election. In each case I
was exonerated.
15. My present plight started sometime between 2013 and 2014. I
represented the then Chief Justice of Nigeria in an event organised in the
International Conference Centre. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi came in late and sat
next to me at the high table. He introduced himself to me and we
exchanged contacts. A few weeks after, Fayose's case was determined in
the Court of Appeal. Amaechi called me by 6.45 am . He said he had come
to see me but was told I had left for my office. When he said he would
return in the evening, I demanded to know what he wanted but he would not
tell me. He did not come that evening but came the following morning when
I was already prepared to go to work. He begged me to ensure that
Fayose's election was set aside and another election ordered for his
friend Fayemi to contest. I told him I would not help him and that even
if I am on the panel I have only my one vote.
16. After the Rivers State Governorship election was determined by
the Court of Appeal, he called to tell me his ears were full and he would
like to tell me what he heard. I told him I was out of Abuja at the
time. On my return he came in the evening and even before he sat down he
barked “You have seen Wike”. I asked him whether that was a question or a
statement. Then he made a call and asked me to speak with someone. The
man he called said he was a DSS man. We exchanged greetings and I handed
the phone to him. Next, he said “Oga is not happy”. I asked him who is
the unhappy “Oga” and he answered “Buhari”. I retorted “go and talk to
his wife”. He got very angry, and left, remarking “we shall see” several
times.
17. Your Lordship may recall one morning when I pleaded not be on the
Panel for Rivers Appeal. Your Lordship said I was already on the Panel
and asked me to explain why I made the request to be excluded. When I
explained what transpired the previous night, Your Lordship told me
Amaechi had also attempted to influence other Justices. My Lord, on the
day we heard the appeal with your Lordship presiding, we were allowed
lunch break at 4.20 pm . The moment I got into my Chambers he, Amaechi,
called. When he told who was calling, I said to him, “Your Excellency,
you want to issue more threats”? He replied “Have you been threatened
before?” I replied “I know a threat when I hear one even if veiled. In
any case I will not talk to you” and I switched off my phone.
18. The people who failed in their attempt to destroy me in Ebonyi in
2000 and in Enugu in Andy Uba's case in the Court of Appeal, Enugu in 2009
are now supplying Amaechi with information to fight me for my negative
response to his demands, especially my answer to his statement that “Oga
was not happy”. This infuriated him and as he stormed out he said he
would deal with the situation.
19. The incident I will narrate below may or may not bear on this
case. When the Governorship Election appeal from my State, Ebonyi, came
to the Court of Appeal, one Mr. Igwenyi, a Senior staff of Federal
Judicial Service Commission came to my Chambers and told me that the
former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu had pleaded with him to
convince me to see him, Dr. Onu. I asked him to call Dr. Onu; he did and
I wanted to know why he wanted to see me. He said it was confidential. I
asked when he wanted to see me and he said he would like me to come in the
evening. I told Igwenyi that he would have to take me to Dr. Onu in his
car and bring me back. I had wanted him to listen to what Dr. Onu had to
say but when we arrived, Dr Onu put him in a different room. He asked me
whether I know the Hon. President of the Court of Appeal and I told him
that His Lordship was my Presiding Justice in the Court of Appeal, Benin
Division. He asked of my relationship with the PJA and I said it was
cordial. He nodded his head several times in apparent satisfaction.
20. He told me that the candidate for the Labour Party was ready to
switch over to APC if he could help him win the appeal in the Court of
Appeal and that in appreciation of the undertaking to come over to his
party, he had obtained the services of three Justices of the Court of
Appeal to ensure victory for Labour Party. He said he needed one to
convince the PJA to include his three Justices of the Court of Appeal in
the five-man panel to hear the appeal. I told him I would not help him
and that I could not in good conscience convey such request even to a
Customary Court Judge. He was disappointed and asked me whether I knew
the husband of the PJA. I told him I did not know the man. I bid him
good night and left. Igwenyi joined me in the passage and when he drove
me back to my home I told him what Dr. Onu wanted. Igwenyi apologised to
me and assured me that he would not have bothered me if he had known what
Dr. Onu wanted me to do.
21. In addition to the above I have been subjected to visits to the
DSS offices. I was made to stay idle for the whole day, without food or
even water. On 17th October, 2016 I went to the DSS office to collect my
passports as directed. I was to be there by 10 am but I arrived by 9.30
am and I was assured that I would return to my office in no time. I was
kept there till 3.45 pm before I was questioned on the passports till 5.00
pm. After that, one of them took the passports to his boss. He returned
an hour later, handed me my passports and told me he had finished with me
but that only the man in whose office I was could let me go. I was only
allowed to go about 10 pm with a warning to report at 10 am on 18th
October 2016. From 9.30 am to 10 pm I was not given water or food.
22. I am on my way to the DSS office and who knows if and when I will
be allowed to leave the place.
23. My Lord, the facts stated here in can be verified.
24. Attached is an Affidavit deposed by me in the Supreme Court
Registry to this effect.
Yours faithfully
NWALI SYLVESTER UNGWUTA
JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
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