The Presidency has
said the on-going `surgical operation’ against some judicial officers is specifically targeted at corruption and not at the judiciary as an institution.
Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special
Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, made the clarification in
a statement in Abuja on Sunday.
According to Shehu, the president reserves his highest respect for the institution of the judiciary as the third arm of government and
will not do anything to undermine its
independence.
Shehu said Buhari remained a committed democrat, “in words and in his actions, and will not take any action in violation of the constitution.
“In a robust democracy, such as ours, there is
bound to be a plurality of opinions on any given issue but there is a convergence of
views that the country has a corruption problem that needs to be corrected.
“But reports by a section of the media are giving us cause for concern.’’
The Presidential aide advised that, in
undertaking the task of reporting, the media should be careful about the fault lines they opened.
“It is wrong to present this incident as a confrontation between the executive and
judicial arms of government,’’ he said.
Shehu said the Presidency had received
assurances from the Department of Security Services (DSS) that all due processes of the law, including the possession of search and arrest warrants, were obtained before the searches on some judges.
“To suggest that the government is acting outside the law in a dictatorial manner is to breach the interest of the state,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the arrest of three judges for alleged
corruption has angered some stakeholders in
the judiciary, especially Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).
The NBA has asked the president to order the
release of the judges or face the consequences. (NAN)
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