Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has said the Department of State Services resorted to “deliberate misinformation and concocted stories” to justify its “unconstitutional” assault on the nation’s judiciary.
Wike maintained that the DSS lacked the constitutional powers to be involved in the legal process to discipline a serving judicial official, pointing out that a legal process must be followed.
The DSS had stated that its operatives swooped on some judges in the country because there were allegations that they (judges) were involved in corrupt practices, adding that various amount of money, in different denominations, were found in the judges residences.
Speaking during a special dinner for the management and players of Rivers United at the Government House, Port Harcourt, on Saturday, Wike said the “weak blackmail of the DSS” would not lessen the crime it had committed against the Nigerian state by assaulting the judiciary.
He said, “Their blackmail stories will not move me. They will concoct all kinds of stories to justify this undemocratic illegality perpetrated against the judiciary.
“It is really unfortunate that DSS would concoct a false defence that $USD2 million, (that is N900m) was found in the house of the judge. It is unfortunate that the DSS is coming up with flimsy excuses.”
However, a Government House statement by Wike’s aide on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, read, “It will be recalled that the governor and the DSS operatives had their encounter outside the gate of a judge’s residence.
PUNCH
