The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN and the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas Limited, Abdulrahman Bashir, known as ‘Rahamaniyya’ are indeed the brain behind the invasion of Justice Mary Odili’s residence in Abuja, Pointblanknews.com investigation has revealed.

According to our undercover reporter who investigated the development, Mr. Malami ordered the invasion with the hope of retrieving sack-load of currencies believed to be illegally acquired by the prominent jurist who is second on the line to the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

According to sources available to the Pointblanknews.com, the AGF ordered the invasion after receiving an information from a whistleblower, one Aliyu Umar, that sacks of money in both foreign and local currencies were allegedly lodged in Odili’s house. The money was said to have been brought by a governor from one of the South-south states, meant for the last national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

In preparation to the invasion, several meetings were held at the Maitama house of Rahamaniyya where Lawrence Ajojo, a serving Chief Superintendent of Police and who heads Joint Panel Recovery unit in the Ministry of Justice, was contacted to assemble a team of professionals who will form the enforcement team.

Our investigation also revealed that CSP Ajojo has been working for the Attorney General Malami and even drives a Hilux Van with inscription of the Ministry of Justice as an official car.

Our reporter who spoke with some of the 14 suspects confirmed that the suspects were not allowed to interface with Malami, but they got the assurances that the operation was legitimate and that they will be taken care of after the recovery of the slush fund.

According to one of the suspects, it was CSP Ajojo and Rahamaniyya who brokered the deal in the latter’s Maitama residence. It was also through the directives of the Attorney-General that the Search Warrant was secured from an Abuja magistrate court presided over by Chief Magistrate Emmanuel Iyanna.

Why the operation failed

CSP Ajolo had assembled the Joint Panel Recovery unit and armed with the Search Warrant order which was mistakenly addressed Number 7 as against Number 9 which belongs to Justice Odili. On presentation of the court papers, Justice Odili’s daughter, Njideka Odili-Iheme, a Federal High Court judge, placed a call across to Chief Magistrate Iyanna who confirmed that though he granted the order but that it was not meant for Justice Odili’s Number 9 residence but was for House Number 7. Based on the confusion, the CSP Ajolo and his team were refused access by the jurists’ security details who insist on procurement of a proper Search Warrant.

It was at this point that the suspects who were all these while unaware of the occupant of the House 9 realised that the house was the residence of Justice Odili. The magistrate later revoked the order, saying he was misled while the Police and other security agencies also said they were not aware of the raid.

What happened afterwards

Pointblanknews.com reported that the Force headquarters while parading the 14 suspects described them as impostors who were unknown to any of the nation’s security forces.

Force Public Relations Officer, CP Frank Mba, who paraded the suspects at Force Criminal Investigations Department, said one of them is a fake Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP Lawrence Ajojo, while seven others still at large including two soldiers conspired to raid the residence, following information that the Supreme Court Justice was keeping large sum of money in foreign currencies.

Reiterating that the suspects involved in the criminal acts came from different professional backgrounds such as journalism, banking, law enforcement and law, CP Mba said they were loose cannons and document forgers who were on their own and not hired by any personnel of the ministry of justice.

Speaking to reporters during their parade, Ajojo owned up that he was not a police officer but claimed he was a consultant to the Attorney General of the Federation.

However, the AGF, Abubakar Malami, SAN, denied the allegation that the CSP worked for him as a consultant.

Malami, in a statement signed by his media aide, Dr. Umar Gwandu, described the confession of Ajojo “as “a case of a drowning man scavenging for a dying partner.”

“This is an orchestrated attempt to stir unnecessary controversies and Public apprehension.  We asked the suspect to present documents of engagements where he worked as a consultant to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, whether in past or now.

“Consultant for what? Which activity or assignment? When was he engaged? What were the terms of references for the alleged consultancy service? When was he engaged? Where was he engaged? Which work has he executed for the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and the Ministry of Justice? For what duration? And for how much?

“We boldly and unequivocally challenge the fake consultant/police officer to come out with answers or responses to these questions to the public.

“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice who superintends over and respects the rule of law will not do anything to undermine the sanctity of his office and that of the entire judiciary and Justice sector.”

But Pointblanknews.com gathered that Ajojo is a serving police officer and was doing the bidding of the AGF who has promised him and his co-suspects easy acquittal.

Our undercover reporter who visited the suspects in their detention cell confirm that they were being giving executive treatment in over a month that they have spent in the police custody. They were also allowed to keep their phones, served food from home and to have as many visitors as they wish.

Pointblanknews.com also gathered that the Malami has paid a proxy visit to them and have continued to assure them that they will be left of the hook, if they stick to the version of the statement that they had volunteered to the public which exonerated the AGF.

Neither the CSP Ajolo or the rest of the suspects have been queried or investigated further by the Police authorities after the initial interrogation. And as a matter of fact, all the security personnel on the operation have their last salaries paid fully, pointblanknews.com confirms.

One of the suspects, a police officer also swore that he has known CSP Ajojo for over two decades and that he has worked closely with him in the Joint Panel Recovery unit.

Suspects want case charged to court

The 14 suspects are now demanding that the case be charged to court as investigation has been concluded.

They are demanding that since the case is a criminal matter, if the police fail to charge the case to court as soon as possible, they will be forced to sue the police and the AGF for unlawful detention.