Olumide Akpata, President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has called for an emergency meeting over the botched search of Supreme Court Justice Mary Odili’s residence.

“In line with the aims and objectives of the NBA to protect and defend the independence of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law, we will convene an emergency meeting of the NBA National Executive Committee solely to discuss this issue and take a definitive stand on behalf of the NBA,” Mr Akpata tweeted on Saturday. 

The Gazette earlier reported that Chief Magistrate Emmmanuel Iyanna admitted he signed the search warrant for Mrs Odili’s residence after he was deceived by Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), who misrepresented vital information.

Mr. Akpata who described the incident an orchestrated affront to intimidate the Judiciary, said he will no longer standby and watch as the third arm of government suffers constant ridicule.

He stated that such incidents if left unsanctioned would embolden law enforcement agencies to carry out more unlawful assignments against the judiciary, thereby undermining the rule of law and tenets of democracy.

He promised to “lead a delegation to the Honourable AGF Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN and the relevant heads of security agencies to seek further clarification on the circumstances of this incident.”

The NBA president also vowed to that “all those responsible for this unfortunate incident are brought to book. We must do all that is required to safeguard the independence of our Judiciary and indeed protect our hard-won democracy.”