The Presidency has said the on-going `surgical operation’ against some judicial officers is specifically targeted at corruption and not at the judiciary as an institution.

Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special
Assistant on Media and Publicity to President
Muhammadu Buhari, made the clarification in a
statement in Abuja on Sunday.
According to Shehu, the president reserves his
highest respect for the institution of the judiciary
as the third arm of government and will not do
anything to undermine its independence.
Shehu said Buhari remained a committed
democrat, “in words and in his actions, and will
not take any action in violation of the
constitution.
“In a robust democracy, such as ours, there is
bound to be a plurality of opinions on any given
issue but there is a convergence of views that
the country has a corruption problem that needs
to be corrected.
“But reports by a section of the media are giving
us cause for concern.’’
The Presidential aide advised that, in undertaking
the task of reporting, the media should be careful
about the fault lines they opened.
“It is wrong to present this incident as a
confrontation between the executive and judicial
arms of government,’’ he said
Shehu said the Presidency had received
assurances from the Department of State
Services (DSS) that all due processes of the law,
including the possession of search and arrest
warrants, were obtained before the searches on
some judges.
“To suggest that the government is acting
outside the law in a dictatorial manner is to
breach the interest of the state,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that
the arrest of three judges for alleged corruption
has angered some stakeholders in the judiciary,
especially Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).
The NBA has asked the president to order the
release of the judges or face the consequences.