Her arrest took place on the premises of the Lagos High Court, Lagos, Ikeja shortly after Justice Hakeem Oshodi struck out the corruption charges made against her by the EFCC.
As she attempted to leave the courtroom, EFCC officials moved to surround the dismissed judge.
Upon
sighting them, the judge made a hasty retreat and went back upstairs
into Justice Oshodi’s courtroom to seek the protection of the court from
the EFCC officials.
Justice Oshodi, when notified about the development, said there was nothing he could do, as “the file had been closed.”
Her co-defendant, Mr. Godwin Obla, SAN, was however allowed to leave the court premises.
Justice
Ofili-Ajumogobia was standing trial before the court on charges
bordering on unlawful enrichment, taking property by a public officer,
corruption, forgery and giving false information to an official of the
EFCC, while Mr. Obla was Charged with bribing her with N5m.
They had both pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Before
her arrest, the trial judge, Justice Oshodi, in a ruling, had struck
out the 31 counts filed by the EFCC against Ofili-Ajumogobia and Mr.
Obla on the grounds that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit.
The
judge ruled that, based on the judicial precedent set by the case of
Justice Nganjiwa Vs FRN, the EFCC had “jumped the gun” in filing the
first amended charge.
Justice Oshodi also held that the
anti-graft commission had not followed the procedures set by the
National Judicial Council (NJC) for disciplining erring judicial
officers.
Source:- Channelstv
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