Prof Zainab Abiola, one of the lawyers of Ibrahim Magu, suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has explained how Justice Ayo Salami ordered operatives of the Department of State Services to eject two lawyers representing Magu from the sitting on Monday.
Abiola and Aliyu Lemu were the two lawyers ejected from the panel’s sitting on Monday.
SaharaReporters had reported how Justice Salami denied two lawyers representing Magu from witnessing the trial.
He insisted on having only Mr Wahab Shittu to represent Magu at the sitting.
Condemning the action of Justice Salami, Abiola said the panel was acting undemocratically and against the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari in setting up a public hearing.
Speaking with TheCable, she said that the panel was carrying out a “hatchet job” in order to nail Magu.
She said, “This is a democratic dispensation, you cannot bring military tactics, a Hitler’s Gestapo rule to this type of occasion.
“The panel was set up to be public. How then did it become a private sitting with Emperor Salami? He has become an emperor.
“He told me personally that there is only one chair for a lawyer. So, I said, if there is only one chair, send for more chairs.
“He called the DSS, they were fully armed. So, we left. But the other lady, Fatimah, was bundled and put in a cell, in a prison cell.
So, there is a prison in the Presidential Villa? Nigerians should worry for themselves.”
Abiola stressed that the panel does not have evidence against Magu but was acting on concocted lies.
