The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has denied his involvement in the raid carried out on the residence of Supreme Court Justice Mary Odili. 

This denial is contained in a statement signed by Mr Malami’s media aide, Umar Jibrilu Gwandu.

“The claim of the chief magistrate as reported by a section of the media to the effect that he was being misled by office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice into the issuance of the search warrant is equally forwarded to the relevant investigation agencies to ascertain veracity or otherwise of the purported association of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and which officer if any in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is associated with such claimed misrepresentation,” the statement said. 

Peoples Gazette reported that armed officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) attempted to raid the residence of Mrs Odili on Friday evening.

The raid was based on a search warrant issued by Chief Magistrate Emmanuel Iyanna of Wuse Zone 6 magisterial division in Abuja. 

The warrant contained whistleblower information from Aliyu Umar, who had deposed that there were illegal activities being carried out at Mrs Odili’s Maitama residence. The court documents added that the tip-off was supplied to the EFCC. 

The officers later called off the raid on Mrs Odili’s residence after the chief magistrate revoked the authorising warrant, accusing Mr Malami of misrepresenting facts in the first information application supplied by the ad-hoc public asset recovery panel domiciled under the justice ministry, directly under Mr Malami’s supervision. 

The anti graft body denied its involvement in the operation, despite court documents noting that the informant reported his findings to the EFCC and the information being confirmed by one of the operatives to The Gazette. 

The spokesperson for the EFCC had written to The Gazette on Friday, saying  “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 recent raid on Mrs Odili’s residence is the latest attack on judiciary officers by security personnel.

In 2016, operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) conducted multiple raids across the country on the residences of over a dozen federal judges, including three of the Supreme Court at the time.