Mahmud Mohammed, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, has confronted President Muhammadu Buhari in a face-to-face meeting in the Presidential Villa following the weekend crackdown on federal judges and two Supreme Court justices by the country’s secret police, The Trent can exclusively report.

The meeting, which held in the morning of Monday, October 10, 2016, was at the instance of the Honourable Justice Mohammed, multiple sources reveal.

Present at the meeting were Lawal Daura, the director-general of the Department of State Security Services, DSS, which serves as the country’s secret police and the president of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Babatunde Adejumo.

Our findings are that the meeting was very tense and the chief justice did not mince words when addressing the president on the matter. The visibly infuriated CJN tongue-lashed the president for violating the democratic principles of separation of powers and assuming the unconstitutional status of “supervisor” of the judiciary, an independent arm of government.

RELATED: Presidency Confirms That President Buhari Sanctioned DSS Crackdown On Judges

Justice Mohammed accused President Buhari of victimizing the judges targeted in the midnight crackdown by the DSS for refusing to be intimidated by the secret police over the matters of the election petitions of Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

According to one of our top inside sources, the CJN exposed a series of scare and intimidation tactics carried out by the DSS director general, a kinsman to President Buhari, to make the bench bow to its wishes and overturn the judgement against the current governors of two oil-rich states.

Mohammed expressly accused the DSS DG of using the name of President Buhari in carrying out what he called an “unprecedented attempt to influence the bench and pervert justice” in the country. The president was visibly upset by the revelations and repeatedly denied knowledge of such harassment of of judges by the DSS.

Mr. Daura attempted to deny knowledge of such subterranean moves and claimed that the judges that were arrested, in what the secret police wrongly termed as “sting operation”, were corrupt. A claim which saw the CJN shout him down telling him to shut up and sit down.

After lambasting the secret police boss, Justice Mohammed proceeded to unreel instances in which Daura contacted judges handling the election petition cases claiming that ruling in favour of the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidates was “what President Buhari wanted”. [/b]Again, the president denies issuing such instructions.

[b]The CJN also revealed that the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi offered the judges millions of dollars to overturn their ruling on the two election petitions. He said the honourable justices rebuffed Amaechi because they were hellbent on delivering a sound judgment on the cases which had been unduly sensationalised by politicians.

Justice Mohammed revealed that Amaechi also said that he was acting on the orders of the president and that in actual fact, the judges arrested over the weekend were those who refused to be corrupted by the DSS and Amaechi and insisted on preserving the independence and integrity of the bench.

On this revelation, Buhari presented a disturbed contenance, our sources say. The president requested that the CJN puts down his position which we are reliably informed has been done.

Insiders revealed to The Trent that the climate in Aso Rock is unusually tense following the posture and damning revelations by the CJN.

There are whispers in the corridors that based on the gravity of the allegations against the DSS director and Amaechi, Buhari may let go of the duo to “clear his name from the embarrassing episode’, a top security source told our reporter.

Justice Mohammed went on to describe the DSS action as “very saddening”, “deeply regrettable” and a “distressing and unfortunate” incident when he later addressed the valedictory court session held in honour of a retiring Justice of the Supreme Court, Suleiman Galadima. The attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami was conspicuously absent at the event on Monday.

In the early hours of Saturday, October 8, 2016, operatives of the county’s secret police invaded the homes of a number of senior judges and abducted some of them from the homes under the guise of an anti-corruption battle.

“My lords, invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, not to detract from this occasion, it is indeed very saddening and deeply regrettable, the distressing and unfortunate incident which occurred on Friday, October 7 and Saturday, October 8, 2016,” Mohammed said at the valedictory court session held in honour of a retiring Justice of the Supreme Court, Suleiman Galadima

President Buhari appointed Lawal Daura, his kinsman from his hometown in Katsina on July 2, as head of the DSS after firing Ita Ekpeyong. Daura was recalled from retirement as he had retired from the service of the DSS when he reached the mandatory age of 60 according to the Civil Service rules of Nigeria. He is also a member of Buhari’s political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and served on the security committee for Buhari’s presidential campaign.

While the election petitions were being heard at the courts, the INEC resident electoral commissioners (RECs) for Akwa Ibom, Austin Okojie, was detained and tortured for 13 days and his Rivers State counterpart, Gesila Khan , was also detained for two weeks by Nigeria’s secret police. The harassment, detention, and torture of electoral officials of the two oil rich states was reportedly connected with the interest of President Buhari in reclaiming electoral victory from main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in those states.

None of the INEC officials detained by the DSS have been charged with any crime and the election petitions were eventually ruled in favour of the PDP by the Supreme Court.

Mohammed expressly accused the DSS DG of using the name of President Buhari in carrying out what he called an “unprecedented attempt to influence the bench and pervert justice” in the country. The president was visibly upset by the revelations and repeatedly denied knowledge of such harassment of of judges by the DSS.

Mr. Daura attempted to deny knowledge of such subterranean moves and claimed that the judges that were arrested, in what the secret police wrongly termed as “sting operation”, were corrupt. A claim which saw the CJN shout him down telling him to shut up and sit down

On this revelation, Buhari presented a disturbed contenance, our sources say. The president requested that the CJN puts down his position which we are reliably informed has been done.

Insiders revealed to The Trent that the climate in Aso Rock is unusually tense following the posture and damning revelations by the CJN.

There are whispers in the corridors that based on the gravity of the allegations against the DSS director and Amaechi, Buhari may let go of the duo to “clear his name from the embarrassing episode’, a top security source told our reporter

Luckylife:
Man of integrity indeed! No amount of deceit that can cover the truth from wise Nigerians but the world weep for zombies.

kcnwaigbo:


This is just the beginning.Am sure we will hear more in the coming days.I am still waiting to hear from Justices Ngwuta,Liman etc

Kabashin:


They are still loading their protest letters. The zombies who were busy hating for blood have suddenly gone cold.

Silly set of human.

udemejack:
its very pathetic to discover that people who are supposed to be working against corruption are the same people who are fertilizing and nurturing it to grow..God bless Buhari for opening our eyes

udemejack:
its very pathetic to discover that people who are supposed to be working against corruption are the same people who are fertilizing and nurturing it to grow..God bless Buhari for opening our eyes

genearts:

Thank God for Buhari honestly, we now know who the real enemies of Nigeria are. Smh for some people

Kabashin:

You mean Mamman Daura the defacto President. Una no get shame walahi.

genearts:

No. I mean people like you.

Eden007:
Akwa ibom Man condemning your own before it is even proven. You should bury your head in shame. I know you are an ibibio man that doesn't like good things.

udemejack:
ikpa i can never support even my 'father' when he does something wrong just because he is my own....you should be the the one to bury your head in shame for knowing what is wrong and you keep on supporting it...i am disappointed in you.

Eden007:
what wrong exactly has he done? Where are the evidence that he is corrupt?

udemejack:
i did not refer my comment to anybody but everybody....but if you refer it to anyone i think your conscience has started battling with you

Kabashin:


You still don't have shame for been a sycophant to a man clearly not in charge. He will continue making your jobs too difficult to defend.

Kabashin:


Da owo, no dey deceive ya self. You be APC Umana zombie.

genearts:

At least i'm better than an irredeemable lover and supporter of corruption like you. How much do there people pay sef, please don't tell me you are doing it for free.

udemejack:
point of correction;i am non partisan,i only support good governance.

Kabashin:


A zombie like you can never be better than even a stone.
High rated and prominent zombies have all conceded that this admin is a failure pending when and if they correct their approach to governance. While low rated zombies like you are still stewing in ignorance.

Continu.

genearts:

Thank God for Buhari honestly, we now know who the real enemies of Nigeria are. Smh for some people

Kabashin:


That's what zombies who are ashamed always say.

kcnwaigbo:


The same Buhari who sent the Amaechi to bribe Judges? The same Buhari who sent the DSS after the judges for refusing the bribe?

udemejack:
its very pathetic to discover that people who are supposed to be working against corruption are the same people who are fertilizing and nurturing it to grow..God bless Buhari for opening our eyes

vedaxcool:
Trentonline has posted oya Aisha Buhari rice eaters and Jonathan butt kissers come out and play.

udemejack:
point of correction;i am non partisan,i only support good governance.