Armed operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have visited the residence of Supreme Court Justice Mary Odili, Peoples Gazette learnt.

The operatives arrived at Mrs Odili’s Abuja residence on Friday evening with immediate efforts to break in, sources told The Gazette. The judge immediately and vehemently resisted the attempts to raid her residence by the operatives, saying she had no business with them.

“She told them to go and meet her husband because she does not have any matter pending before them,” our source said under anonymity because they did not get permission to comment on an ongoing operation. Armed police officers were also amongst over 50 operatives said to be part of the operation on Imo River Street, off Danube Street, Maitama.

Peter Odili, the Supreme Court jurist’s husband and former Rivers governor, has been facing corruption charges raised by the EFCC. Earlier this week, a federal judge ordered the immediate return of his international passport, saying anti-graft prosecutors have failed to substantiate grounds for continuous seizure of the politician’s passport.

Officials could not immediately say whether or not the ongoing standoff at Mrs Odili’s residence was because of her husband’s case.

The development comes five years after operatives of the State Security Service broke into the residences of over a dozen federal judges, including three of the Supreme Court at the time. Some of the judges have since died, with their family members saying their health deteriorated following the raids.

The officers later left Mrs Odili’s residence after the chief magistrate that issued the search warrant they presented revoked it, accusing Attorney-General Abubakar Malami’s justice ministry of supplying false information to the court.

The EFCC also denied playing a role in the operation, even though the whistleblower that triggered the search process stated in court filings that he provided his findings to the EFCC and one of the operatives told The Gazette EFCC led the operation.

“If there was any such operation” that Mrs Odili’s house was besieged by anti-graft operatives, “it was not carried out by the EFCC,” the agency’s spokesman Wilson Uwujaren said in a statement to The Gazette late Friday. The Gazette had earlier reached Mr Uwujaren for comment prior to breaking the news but received no immediate response.