The police confirmed on Thursday that fourteen people had been arrested in connection with the siege of Justice Mary Odili’s apartment in Abuja.
A false Chief Superintendent of Police, Lawrence Ajodo, a contributing editor with one of the national daily, Stanley Nkwazema, and an Islamic scholar are among the suspects.
The accused were presented in Abuja by the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, who revealed that their arrest followed a quick investigation by the police.
At least ten other people involved in the event, including two military members, are still at large, according to the police spokeswoman.
The arrest is the latest in a series of events that have occurred since armed men stormed Justice Odili’s apartment in Maitama.
The incident garnered criticism from a variety of sources, including the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, and human rights lawyer Femi Falana, among others.
Wike had issued the Federal Government a 48-hour deadline to apprehend the offenders, claiming that the incident was a botched assassination attempt.
“We think that there is an attempt to assassinate Justice Mary Odili, the husband and members of the family, there are no two ways about it. If they had succeeded, all the Federal Government would have told us (is that) we will get to the bottom of the matter because that has always been the normal language,” Wike said during a press conference in Abuja on October 31.
“The issue here has nothing to do with the Attorney General, we are happy he said he is not aware. We said, okay since you are not aware, we are giving you 48 hours to tell us who is responsible.”
The NBA had also urged on the Federal Government to form a panel to investigate the siege, which it described as an assault on the courts.
“The grave implications of this possibility leave a lot to be desired,” the president of the NBA, Olumide Akpata, said in a statement.
“When viewed in the context of a similar raid on the premises of Supreme Court Justices in 2016, the rationale of which was never fully explained or indeed justified, the NBA interprets last night’s incident as a part of an orchestrated affront on the judiciary, designed to intimidate and ridicule the judiciary.”
