The court of law is adjoined from ages as symbolic Temple in the
Celestial or saintly community. While the latter is run by
Ministers known as the ‘’Priests’’ of different cadres, the court
of law which is simply referred to as ‘’Temple of Justice’’ is
constituted by two sets of people or Ministers otherwise called
‘’the Bench and Bar’’.
In Nigeria President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and
the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) are the two Chief Priest or
Prime Ministers in the Temple of Justice. In other words, they are
Heads of the Bar and Bench respectively.
Until in the recent time, while Justice Walter Onnoghen as the
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), was the head of the Bench or
Judiciary, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA),
Paul Usoro (SAN) is the head of the Bar.
Curiously, the two chief priests or prime ministers in the
Temple of Justice became enmeshed in corruption scandals. To say
all is not well in the Temple of Justice is to say the least.
Concurrently, leading ministers of the temple of justice were
stripped naked in the market square, a sacrilege according to
tradition and the temple myths. In short the temple was desecrated,
despoiled and dishonored.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned
the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Paul Usoro
(SAN) on December 10, 2018 for allegedly laundering N1.4 billion.
The commission had in its 10-count charge alleged that Usoro
converted and laundered the said sum sometimes in 2015 in
connivance with the Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State. The
offence allegedly committed by the NBA President was contrary to
Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 and
he is liable to be punished under Section 15(3) of the same Act
Barely a month after Usoro was arraigned, precisely on January
11, 2019, the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) summoned the then
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen to appear
before it for trial on 6-count charge over failure to declare his
assets fully before the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). This is just
as the EFCC went behind and filed some charges bordering on money
laundering against Justice Onnoghen before the National Judicial
Council (NJC)
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), is unarguably the mirror
image of the judiciary, and perhaps that informed why members of
the bar and bench felt bereaved with the trial and conviction of
Justice Onnoghen. Their image and pride were as good as being
mangled or muddled up, as the trials were akin to defiling the
temple of justice or spattering on judiciary statute.
At a time like this, what can the judiciary do to redeem its
image and pride? The National Judicial Council has courageously and
archetypally taken a historical decision. The council had on April
3, 2019 under the interim chairmanship of former President of the
Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, recommended the suspended
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, for compulsory
retirement. The council felt, irrespective of any argument, Justice
Onnoghen who has been mounting the dock in his trial for false
asset declaration before the CCT has lost the moral authority to
continue as CJN with even the litany and incontrovertible
allegations of corruption against him.
Justice Onnoghen himself, not waiting to see what President
Muhammadu Buhari would do with NJC recommendation, and even for the
Code of Conduct Tribunal to deliver its judgement; went ahead on
April 4, 2019 to tender his resignation as the Chief Justice of
Nigeria.
Of course, if NJC had passed a vote of confidence on Justice
Onnoghen, he would not have resigned, and irrespective of CCT
verdict, the mudsling and splattering of invectives on judiciary
would been fueled and raging.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) should take a cue. It needs
not to wait till its next election to pull itself out of this
shame. Perhaps, the words of former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN),
Justice Mahmud Mohammed, though meant to address different issue
but by and large not far different.
On June 24, 2015 Justice Mahmud Mohammed used the opportunity
offered by a seminar that was organised by the anti-corruption
commission of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to fire back at
members of the Bar often accusing judicial officers of
corruption.
He said contrary to the much talked about corruption in the
Nigerian judiciary, only 64 out of the whole lots of 1,020 judges
serving in the superior courts have so far been punished by the
National Judicial Council (NJC) for various offences especially
bordering on corruption between 2009 and 2014.
Justice Mohammed told the Bar that the Bench cannot be clean if
the Bar that gives birth to it is filthy. “Unless we work in
synergy to ensure that only fit and proper persons remain in our
midst, it will be impossible to expect a different Bench when its
origin remains the same. I hereby call on the leadership of the Bar
to expunge from its ranks such persons whose conduct may be unfit,
improper, dishonest or unethical’’.
NBA can no longer look at the Executive in the eyes and say the
general elections it conducted for instance in February and March
this year was bad when it conducted one of the most shameful
elections in the anal of its history.
From what inspiration would NBA draw to criticize members of the
executive, legislature and the judiciary when its head or President
is standing trial for alleged corrupt practices with prima facie
underlining? If Usoro cannot muster courage to step aside like his
counterpart in the Bench, there is no reason why NBA’s NEC
shouldn’t do the needful.
Turning to the judiciary proper, the acting Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Justice Tanko Ibrahim Muhammad should without waste of
time reframe and put in use a holistic National Judicial Policy
that recognizes and touches on subjects such as judicial
independence and accountability judicial ethics, case flow
management; speedy and judicious disposition of corruption,
economic crime and high profile cases; judicial administration,
technology, relationship with other branches of government, justice
sector co-ordination, access to justice, alternative dispute
resolution, review of outdated laws, public awareness, trust and
confidence in the judiciary.
Let there be renewed vigour in the monitoring of serving
judicial officers by the Performance Evaluation Committee of NJC to
forestall undue delays in delivering judgements and applications
for unnecessary adjournments in the courts.
NJC doesn’t have criminal investigation unit or ‘’Fraud
Detective Squad’’ to detect and investigate criminal involvement of
any judicial officer. It has only been putting judges on trial if
there are petitions filed against them, and again, the trials are
based mostly on documentary evidence which are hard to get. But it
is high time the council’s Performance Evaluation Committee be
re-packaged to include criminal investigation unit. This will give
the much needed cleanness in the judiciary.
The acting CJN should re-energise further, the institutionalised
disciplinary mechanism put in place by NJC to sanitise the
judiciary as complaints of corruption and abuse of judicial power
by judicial officers in granting frivolous and reckless injunctions
and ex-parte orders are rife. Justice Muhammad can do that without
let or hindrance due to his clean record of service as he has never
been associated with any corruption scandal.There is no how
judiciary can be transformed or reformed with empty envelop or
paltry resource allocation from the executive branch of government.
It would defy all measures put in from within to function
creditably well if budgetary allocation continues to be low.
The most worrisome situation in the judiciary today is the
release of budgeted allocation to the sector by the Accountant
General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Judiciary is currently recording low performance of the 2018 Budget
on account of release of fund to it.
President Buhari cannot afford to probate and approbate by
wanting to reform the judiciary and at the same time starving it of
fund. The country won’t appropriate good governance,
corruption-free society or achieve major development if the
judiciary is lowly performing. The President won’t get it well, if
he relies on the’’ stick’’ alone for correction rather than
applying ‘’carrot and stick’’ principle to tackle myriad problems
in the judiciary.
In the speech he delivered at the 2015 All Nigeria Judges
Conference, President Buhari urged the Judiciary leadership to
carry out various reforms to position and portray the
administration of justice system as humane and efficient, adding
that, ‘’the Judiciary must go the extra mile to sanitize itself and
improve its capacity to act independently, courageously and
timeously.
‘’This administration is committed to the financial independence
of the Nigerian judiciary in accordance with extant laws. We
believe that the judiciary must be treated fairly and must be
treated in much the same way as the executive and the
legislature’’, President Buhari had said.
Let every judiciary officer especially those participating in
the nationwide election petition tribunal exercise be reminded that
more than 50% of the judicial officers who lost their jobs between
1993 and 2019 were on accounts of complaints filed against them
before NJC while adjudicating in election tribunal matters.
The judicial officers were either accused of receiving bribes
from litigants, granting unmeritorious injunctions and ex-parte
orders, unwholesome telephone conversation with litigants or
engaging in other forms of social interactions with parties in a
suit before them.
On March 19, 2019, while flagging-off an induction program
organised for Court of Appeal justices that will serve as Chairmen
and members of election petition tribunals, the Court of Appeal
President, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, disclosed that over 250
Judges handling election petition cases across the federation, have
been placed on watch list.
The PCA, said the judges would be “closely monitored”, vowing
that any of them found wanting in the discharge of his or her
duties, would be seriously dealt with.
The only way to be free of compromise is to avoid the
politicians completely. No amount of what judicial officers receive
from them could ever purchase needed goodwill and integrity in
their career, either within or outside it.
The judiciary must halt its operation in opaqueness; its
activities cannot remain shrouded in secrecy. In a keynote address
he delivered at the opening ceremony of a two-day training workshop
for Abuja Chapter of the National Association of Judiciary
Correspondents (NAJUC) on December 3, 2014, Justice Mahmud held
that the era when the activities of the judiciary were shrouded in
secrecy is over.
He stressed that the role the press had played in enthroning
integrity, probity and transparency in the judiciary could neither
be underestimated nor over-emphasised adding that there was need
for the public to be properly informed about the nature and
activities of the judiciary.
“The general belief was that all the activities of the judiciary
started and ended in the court room. The scare of the dreaded
subjudice or contempt of court hung ominously over every
information or on the head of the information disseminator.
“The judiciary was a no-go area for the media by whatever means
and the judiciary itself saw no use it could make of the press. The
judiciary completely lived in its cocoon. Any prying eyes of the
media into the affairs of the judiciary was treated as a satanic
invasion or demonic intrusion that must be resisted and repelled by
any means, especially by the use of the doctrine of contempt of
court ex facie curie.
“However, the trend has changed. The judiciary as the third arm
of the government treats the press as the fourth estate of realm.
Since the judiciary as an arm of government is a subsystem within
the state, it cannot, therefore, be insulated from the stimuli
(both external and internal) which impact upon and influence the
state as a system.”
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