A group of activists in the country declared on Wednesday that any corrupt Judge found guilty of corruption by a court of competent jurisdiction should bag jail term of seven years in consonance with sections 98, 99 and 494 of the Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Section 172 & 209 and part 5th schedule, part 1 of sections 6 & 8 of the amended 1999 Constitution, rejecting the recent approach of the men of the Department of State Service (DSS) in arresting the few Judges of the Federal High and Supreme Court over corrupt practices by invading their Houses with unconventional weapons, which was inimical to the code of Conduct of a security agents.

They also advised President Muhammdu Buhari to extend its anti-corruption crusade to state judiciary across the country, adding that the depth of corruption in the nation’s judiciary needed to be curtailed within the ambit of the law.

The activists under the aegis of Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ) were drawn from; The Christian Awareness Mission Group (CAMG), Passengers Fundamental Rights Group (PATRGIA), The Islamic Political Awareness Group (TIPAG), Centre for Social Justice and Equity of Nigeria (CESJEN), Veteran Groups for Operation Clean Crusade (VGOCC), Apata-Aiyeraye Social Political Volunteer Group (ASPVG), De-Mainstream Independent Group (DMIG) and Coalition Against Illegal Arrest & Unlawful Detention (CAIA&UD).Others were; Centre for Constitutional Rights and Counter Corruption Crusader, Save Lagos Group (SLG), The Conscience Mainstream (TCM), African Masses Voices for Survival (AMVS),The Christians Youths for the Peoples’ Rights and Development (CYPRD), Islamic Movement for Muslims’ Rights (IMMR), Divine Nigerians Liberators for Peoples’ Fundamental Rights (DNLPFR) and The Christians Volunteers Groups for Good Governance in Nigeria (TCVGGGN).

The group’s National Coordinator, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman, in a statement which was made available to newsmen, after its emergency meeting on the State of the Nation in respect of the recent arrest of some Judges for alleged corruption, insisted that corrupt judges should not be allowed to escape the long arm of the law because justice should take its full course without minding whose ox is gored.

They stated that the discovery of huge sums of money in different currencies in the residence of the arrested Judges by DSS operatives had undermined the public confidence in the entire judicial system of the country.

They urged President Buhari to approach the cleansing of the judiciary with utmost seriousness in line with the relevant sections of the laws of the land, citing section 15(5).

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