Ayo Salami, Akanbi, Bayeshea decline comments

Two prominent retired jurists from Kwara State have declined comments on the Department of State Security (DSS) crackdown on some judges.

The Kwara-born retired Justices Mustapha Akanbi and Ayo Salami, both of who rose to stardom at the Courts of Appeal before retiring, rebuffed attempts by The Guardian to get their views on the issue in Ilorin.

While Akanbi excused himself on grounds of ill health, Salami said “Please leave me out of all this. I beg of you.”

An Ilorin-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olusola Bayeshea told The Guardian, “no comment,” when contacted for his views.

But Abeny Mohammed SAN said care must be taken to preserve the sanctity of the judiciary, as the arm remains the most difficult one to build between the other two arms of government.

“I am not saying that corruption should be allowed in any way, but while trying to sanitise a system, care must be taken so that the whole house will not be pulled down. It is very easy to vote a president into power, ditto, a senator. To produce a justice of the Supreme Court will require about 40 good years of post-call to the Bar.