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Apex Court Probes Invasion Of Justice Odili’s Residence …Assault On Odili, Plot To Compromise 2023 Polls -PDP
The Supreme Court, yesterday, described the invasion of Justice Mary Odili’s residence by unknown security operatives as impunity taken too far.
This is as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the recent onslaught on the residence of Supreme Court judge, Justice Mary Odili was part of a grand design by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to hijack the 2023 elections “as it did in 2019.”
It said it has commenced a full-scale independent investigation to unravel the true masquerades behind the mystery as well as the real motives behind the whole incident.
The apex court, in a statement by its Director of Press and Information, Dr. Akande Festus, said that the attack was uncivilised and a shameful show of primitive force on an innocent judicial officer.
The court warned that the Judiciary should not be misconstrued by any individual or institution of government as the whipping child among the three arms of government.
The statement, read in part: “We are alarmed by the news of the unwarranted and despicable raid on the official residence of one of our senior justices in the Supreme Court, Hon. Justice Mary Peter Odili, on Friday, 29th October, 2021, in a Gestapo manner.
“The attack unfortunately depicted a gory picture of war by some armed persons suspected to be security operatives representing different agencies of government who seemed to have come to kill and maim their target under the guise of undertaking a search whose warrant was questionable and baseless.
“We are deeply saddened and taken aback by this uncivilised and shameful show of force on an innocent judicial officer that has spent several years of her productive life serving the country she calls her own.
“This incident brought back, rather painfully, the ugly memory of the October 2016 midnight invasion of the homes of our respected justices with no satisfactory explanations as to the true motive behind such brazen assault on our collective sensibility.
“We wish to make it abundantly clear that the Nigerian Judiciary is the third arm of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and should be respected and treated as such.
“We have had a full dosage of this fusillade of unwarranted and unprovoked attacks on our judicial officers, and even our facilities across the country, and we say, enough is enough.
“The Judiciary should never be construed by any individual or institution of government as the arm of government that must always be chastised and ridiculed into silence because of our conservative disposition.
“Though there have emerged discordant tunes from the various security agencies that allegedly participated in the dastardly act, we are not lying low on this dehumanizing treatment meted out to one of our own.
“We have commenced a full-scale independent investigation to unravel the true masquerades behind the mystery as well as the real motives behind the whole incident.”
He equally called on the Inspector-General of Police of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to rise up to the occasion by carrying out a discreet investigation and to make his findings known to the Nigerian public with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the recent onslaught on the residence of Supreme Court judge, Justice Mary Odili was part of a grand design by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to hijack the 2023 elections “as it did in 2019.”
This is even as the party described the attack on Justice Odili as “horrendous, rascally, irresponsible, completely unjustified and should not be swept under the carpet on the guise of misleading whistleblower operation.”
In a statement, yesterday, signed by spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP noted that the paw prints of the APC “are visible in the incident, in its desperation to cow the Judiciary and subvert the cause of justice ahead of the 2023 elections.”
The statement read: “It is clear that the attack on Justice Odili is part of a renewed script by the APC. Nigerians will recall how, ahead of the 2019 election, former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, was clandestinely yanked off from his hallowed chamber, preparatory to the massive rigging that characterized the 2019 Presidential election.
“Nigerians can equally recall how respected judges were assaulted by the APC administration through obnoxious sting operations in a bid to arm-twist the Judiciary and set the stage for the endorsement of a culture of impunity that characterised the 2019 elections.
“The PDP, however, cautions the APC and its Presidency apparatchik to know that times have changed. Nigerians are not ready to stomach a repeat of APC’s coordinated assault on our institutions of democracy, but will firmly resist them with every means available within the ambit of the law.
“The party also urges the Judiciary to remain firm and not be deterred by the suppressive proclivities of the fizzling APC that has since been rejected by Nigerians.
“The PDP calls on Nigerians to stand in defence of our democracy by continuing in their demand that the real perpetrators of the attack on Justice Mary Odili be exposed and brought to book.”
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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