(By Godwin Tsa – ABUJA)
There is palpable fear among justices and staff of the Supreme Court over the discovery by the Department of State Security Services (DSS) of a secret bank account with huge sums of money belonging to the court.
Already the Chief Registrar of the court, Ahmed Gambo Saleh and two others, Muhammed Abdulrahman Sharif and Rilwanu Lawal, have been slammed with a nine-count charge of an alleged N2.2 billion fraud by the Federal Government over the operation of the secret account.
Insider sources told Daily Sun that about 13 justices of the court, who have all benefited from the account, are now living in fear of a possible arrest.
Besides those directly charged in connection to the account, our source further revealed that “some principal officers have been interrogated by the secret service.”
Although about 13 justices of the supreme court were said to have signed and collected money drawn from the secret account, our source said the Federal Government may not move against them as doing so will affect the quorum of the court.
“We have evidence against those justices, but going against them will mean that there will be no Supreme Court. They actually signed and collected money from the account, which contains billions of naira,” our source disclosed.
 
The alleged account is said to be operated outside of the due process of the civil service, with money inside the account often withdrawn to fund the foreign trips of some judges.
 
“Preliminary investigations shows that staff of the court and justices also withdraw funds from the account in a suspicious manner. Also, the secret account is used for foreign trips of judges.”
 
When contacted for a statement, Alhaji Ahurakah Isah, the Media Aide to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, declined comment, saying the supreme court will react at an appropriate time.                                                                                       
 
The defendants are specifically accused of conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and the taking of gratification by public officers contrary to Section 10 (a) (i) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Act 2000, and punishable under the same section of the Act.