11th August, 2016
By: AmirAbdulazeez
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ew weeks before the end of the year 2015, some
political pundits in Nigeria made a series of analyses on the major events and
institutions that could shape the then upcoming year in the country. Some of
these analysts emphasized that 2016 would be the year of the Nigerian Judiciary.
It would be a year they said, that will serve as a litmus test for the Nigerian
Judicial Arm of government as an institution that can self-reform not only
under President Buhari but under a relatively new era ushered in by a critical
election that has swept away many of those who are seen to have negatively dictated
the course of politico-judicial events in the country from 1999 to 2015.
In the build up to 2016, major election cases that
caught the public eye had reached advanced stages and were due for judgements
at various times of the new year; many corruption cases especially those
involving the arms deal scandal had begun as well as a host of others. Eight
months into 2016, we can conclude from events that the judiciary has not lived up
to expectation. President Buhari himself had said the judiciary so far was yet
to perform its functions to the satisfaction of Nigerians.
With the remarkable progress made by the 2015 polls,
the judiciary had the opportunity to end impunity, violence and rigging in our
electoral system once and for all but however gave all of them a lifeline with
those Supreme Court gubernatorial judgments of Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and a host of
other states. The judgements were widely condemned even by the most neutral of
neutrals. With the nature with which the Nigerian electoral system had been
bastardized since 2003, there was no way a successful 2015 elections alone
could cleanse it. Many expected the judiciary to not only consolidate the gains
of 2015, but to perfect it.
The lower election tribunals performed fairly but not up
to expectations and the appeal courts did a job that was a little above average
and would have done better if not for the different conflicting decisions made
on similar cases that dominated their judgements. The Supreme Court upturned everything
in what looks like exploiting some narrow loopholes for upholding the theoretical
law at the expense of practical justice. The card reader which received wide appraisal
as the major instrument that ended electoral impunity in the country was
portrayed as ‘illegal’ or ‘unconstitutional’ by the court. Unfortunately, the
seeds of those Supreme Court judgments have yielded the fruits of more
violence, desperation and attempted rigging in many re-run and gubernatorial
elections that followed the 2015 elections leading to so many inconclusive and
suspended elections. A hitherto determined and confident INEC has been rendered
helpless once again. The ‘win-at-all-cost’ and the
‘it-is-better-to-be-taken-to-court-than-to-go-to-court-on-election-matters’
mentalities have carried the day.
The prosecution of corruption cases began in earnest
with some improved pace which made it appear as if the reforms through the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act were working on one hand and the change
mantra of the Buhari Government is positively affecting judicial proceedings on
the other, but that had since slowed down and now cases are taking the familiar
path of time wasting, endless adjournments and giving priority to
technicalities against merit. However, apart from the internal court problems, the
attitudes of lawyers as well as the prosecutors themselves have not helped
matters.
The number of reported judicial scandals involving judges
that broke out in 2016 is a serious cause for worry. The reported scandal
involving the renowned Lawyer Ricky Tarfa and Justice Ibrahim Auta of the Federal
High Court is still fresh on our minds. Tarfa is among other things being
accused of introducing and using his clients who have their families standing
trial before the court of Justice Auta to donate money at a book launch in
honour of the judge, thereby violating the code of conduct for judges in Nigeria.
This is coming at a time the Justice Ayo Salami and ACN saga is still not
forgotten. There are many other resolved and unresolved scandals involving
judges that keep denting the image of the Nigerian Judiciary. There are perhaps
hundreds of others that we may never hear of.
Recently, courts were reported to have given seven
different conflicting judgements and rulings on the leadership saga of the People’s
Democratic Party involving the two factions of Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi.
From May 12, 2016 to July 28, 2016, the Federal High Court in Lagos, the FCT
High Court (twice), Federal High court Abuja (twice) and the Federal High Court
in Porthacourt have delivered one judgment, ruling and injunction or the other
in favour or against the two factions and nobody knows what court will give
what judgement or injunction on the same matter tomorrow. Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim, a
pro-democracy activist believes that judges listen to radio and read newspapers
and if they do not, they should be forced to. He wondered why judges who are
aware of previous rulings and judgments accept new cases on the same issue if
the issue of compromise is not at stake. Jibrin also added while also citing
Justice Akinola Aguda from a lecture he delivered in 1986 saying that, it is
apparent today that we have moved beyond the power to acquire quality lawyers
which in itself makes equality before the law impossible since others can’t
afford such, to the purchase of judges.
The saga in Abia is the most recent example of how the
judiciary are causing confusion and political instability. A Federal High Court
in Abuja sacked Governor Okezie Ikpeazu on June 27 on tax fraud and ordered
INEC to issue fresh certificate of return to his runner-up opponent in the
primary elections, Mr Sampson Ogah. Within hours, another court in Abia State (which
is not a Court of Appeal) barred the state’s Chief Judge from swearing-in Ogah.
It took the efforts of an Appeal Court which asked the parties to maintain
status quo pending the determination of the case to douse the heated atmosphere
in the state and restore temporary calm and stability.
Though many judges still maintain their integrity due
to their exceptional individual conducts, but the integrity of the judiciary as
a system has gradually eroded; the common man no longer sees it as his last
hope, it is the special man that does. The abuse and disregard for court orders
by those in power may not be unconnected to the general degradation of judicial
integrity. It seems, the judiciary can no longer assert its full authority to protect
itself from the incessant abuse of court orders by the executive and powerful
individuals because it commands little respect in the eyes of many. While the
legislature checks the excesses of the executive, the judiciary checks the
excesses of both as well as itself. These are some of the things the National
Judicial Council must look into and address. The allegations that corruption
has eaten deep into the court registries and judicial administrative systems
must also be addressed. The reported cases of alleged bribery and corruption
among courts’ registrars, staff and officers who frustrate the smooth
administration of justice must be investigated and dealt with.
Despite all these, it is fair that we acknowledge some
external factors largely beyond its control that have led the Nigerian
judiciary to find itself in its current state. The issue of inadequate manpower
and poor funding are twin obstacles drawing it back. The Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Mahmud last year, when the members of the Senate Committee
on Judiciary paid him a visit lamented that: ‘there are only 1074 judges of
superior courts in the country, meaning that only one superior court judge
adjudicates for 158,287 Nigerians based on conservative estimates. At the
appeal courts, we now boast of one judge for 1,888,888 Nigerians and it is one
Supreme Court judge for every 10 million Nigerians.” With these figures, one
must understand the difficulties experienced by judges in discharging their duties.
Other problems are excessive executive threat and political interference,
corrupt system, general high cost of legal proceedings and a host of numerous
others.
The National Judicial Council has been doing some
clean-up over the years, even though that has not adequately tackled the
problems at hand. Some judges have been sacked, some compulsorily retired and
others suspended or sanctioned. However, these have not significantly proven to
serve as deterrent to other judges. Therefore, the council should step up its
efforts to cleanse the judiciary of all negative elements for optimal
performance.
After so many years of anomalies and with the
startling events that dominated late 2015 to early 2016, many expected the
judiciary to significantly and positively change by now, but with what we are
witnessing, that change is far from close and not even the reforms brought
about by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act has significantly changed
things so far. The problems are stubbornly getting more and more complex by the
day and some of them look to be almost beyond redemption. With President Buhari
himself helplessly admitting at a workshop for Nigerian judges at the National
Judicial Institute recently, that the judiciary is blocking his progress particularly
in the anti-corruption campaign, the only action left for us besides continuing
to press for genuine reforms is to pray to God to save the Nigerian Judiciary.
Twitter: @AmirAbdulazeez
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