Judiciary In The Next Level

As Nigerians watch the unfolding drama surrounding the imminent
arraignment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen before
the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged failure to comply fully
with the law pertaining to Assets Declaration by public officials,
involving undisclosed possession of various amounts of local and
foreign money, it is necessary to recall that, Lord Denning, the
most popular British judge whose frank comments are regularly
quoted by lawyers long after his death, once declared “be you ever
so high, yet the law is above you.”

This statement of a renown legal luminary gains more relevance
in today’s Nigeria where virtually all the local lawyers,
especially those who are supposed to have been distinguished as
senior advocates, are reacting in a manner that creates the
impression that it is an abomination to subject the Chief Justice
of Nigeria to laws of the land. Nothing could be more hypocritical
and misleading.

It would definitely be an abomination to shield the dispenser of
justice from the law because, apart from the peculiar paraphernalia
of judges and their presumed superior knowledge of the law, they
are human beings like everyone else and therefore subject to the
same weaknesses and influences as the rest of humanity. Excluding
them from compliance with the laws of the land and yet giving them
exclusive responsibility to determine the legality of the actions
of other citizens would create a cult of privileges and discretion
where fear and favour will replace equity and justice.

Nigerians should be appreciating the unprecedented exposure of
the Nigerian judiciary as being composed of the same Nigerians as
in other arms of government in terms of good and bad tendencies
which is another significant outcome of the Buhari administration’s
bold and innovative war against corruption. This is the first
administration to allow the searchlight of corrupt practices to
penetrate the hitherto untouchable judiciary and our worst fears
have come true.

In the first surprise swoop on the residences of some judges
last year, Nigerians were shocked at the discovery of huge amounts
of cash in local and international currencies stashed in the homes
of high ranking judges. From just three of the arrested judges, the
DSS revealed that its operatives recovered N93,558,000, $530,087,
£25,970 and €5,680 and also seized banking as well as real estate
documents from several judges. Now we are told that the Chief
Justice of Nigeria Walter Onnoghen allegedly had $164,804.82 and
55,154.56 Euros in his accounts apart from N9,536,407, N11,456,311
and N3,221,807.05 which were said to be proceeds of estacodes,
salaries and allowances but not declared as required by the Assets
Declaration regulations applicable, according to charges by the
Code of Conduct Bureau.

If truth be told, ordinary Nigerians are not surprised at these
revelations because the Buhari war against corruption has earlier
exposed similar possession of unbelievable amounts of cash in local
and foreign currencies by top officials in the executive, the
legislature, the army, navy, airforce and civil service from
investigations into activities of the previous administration,
several of which are undergoing trial. Nigerians would have been
wondering whether the judges and lawyers running the judiciary are
a special breed of Nigerians until now when the entire body of
lawyers are protesting the legal process applied to other classes
of Nigerians who have been investigated and are being tried.

President Muhammadu Buhari is already expanding the frontiers of
his popularly commended anti-corruption policies and in the process
he is flushing out many corrupt Nigerians and their collaborators
for trials in courts. Without including the judiciary and indeed
the community of so-called learned profession, there would have
been an avenue for corruption to fight back hiding under
technicalities, incessant adjournments and several other tactics of
the judicial process. This is another welcome indication of the
next level that Buhari administration is committed to pursuing in
moving Nigeria forward.

– Ukut wrote from Port Harcourt