A former Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism in Niger State, Jonathan Vatsa, alleged on Monday that desperate politicians were behind last week’s security agents’ invasion of the Abuja home of the Supreme Court judge, Justice Mary Odili.
Security agents comprising soldiers and police operatives had on Friday night laid siege on the judge’s home in the Maitama area of Abuja over alleged illegal activities in the building.
Vatsa, who condemned the invasion of the woman’s home in a chat with journalists in Minna, said some desperate politicians with design on the 2023 election were using state agents for selfish ambition.
He described Justice Odili as a disciplined and accomplished woman full of integrity, saying the desperate individuals are bent on frustrating her out of the system ahead of the 2023 elections.
He said: “You cannot question the integrity of such a woman except you are doing it with a dubious political reason. I learnt that she is the second in command who is expected to succeed the current Chief Judge of the federation and that is why everything is being done to ease her out, this is most unfortunate.
“Our leaders should know that the forthcoming 2023 election will not be business as usual, Nigerians are going through the hardest time in the country’s history and therefore will not want to be manipulated in any way including through the court.
We saw how many leaders emerged through the court after the 2019 elections but I can assure our leaders that Nigerians will resist such court leaders in 2023. Nigerians cannot withstand any further killings, Kidnapping and terrible hardship going on in the country any further.
Removing Justice Mary Odili from the system cannot solve the problem, if we have failed, we should apologize to Nigerians and leave the stage honorably rather than using state agents to harass and humiliate those who have distinguished themselves in their profession.”
The ex-commissioner also slammed the All Progressives Congress (APC) for its poor performance in the last six years, saying the party missed the opportunity of taking the country to its promised land due to the personal ambition of some of its members.
Vatsa added: “That is why we found ourselves in the current mess where the center could no longer hold, in fact, the party is the enemy of itself. There are disagreements everywhere in the party today because the rewarding system is nothing to write home about.
“Those who were never part of the building process are now eating very fat, and with extra to take away, while those who worked tirelessly day and night for the party are being asked to stay behind and lick the plate because of either religion or ethnic difference.”
