Autonomy Or Autotomy?

By Abubakar D. Sani, Esq.

Wonders, it is said    Shall never end    Such is the rot    Nay, dysfunction          In virtually every sphere    Of our national life    That even the judiciary    Is not spared          As is clearly writ large    By the on-going industrial action    Supposedly by the Judicial Staff Union    But, who - strangely - are non-judicial staff          Over financial control – or lack thereof    To use the popular phrasing:    ‘Judicial autonomy’    Or unfettered access to funds          An end to the present practice    Where the courts are tied    To the apron strings    Of the Executive          Notwithstanding the clear provisions    Of the Constitution    As severally interpreted    In subsisting court judgements          What does this say    About our belief in the rule of law?    Are the three arms of Government truly equal?    Why is the control of judges pay -          Not under their hand    But, is, rather, subject  to the whims and caprices    Of the Executive    Whilst the Legislature seemingly cannot be bothered?          This ‘conspiracy of silence’    Has lent credence    To the suspicion, in some quarters    That the situation suits the other two arms          Predictably, the strike has hit    Counsel and litigants most hard    Prompting the latter to march in solidarity    Which was, unfortunately, undermined by a 'typo' in the banner          Displayed  by protesting members    Of the Abuja (the so-called 'Unity') Bar    A cruel twist on the strike's mantra    Achieved simply by switching a letter!          Promptly debunked - of course    As the product of a mischievous photoshop    But, seriously, when    Will this cycle end?          What does it have to take for the Executive    To observe ‘international best practices’    In the funding of our judiciary?    A new dimension? Some fresh thinking?          An elite consensus?    Another Constitution?    What is wrong with this one?    What is wrong with us?          In other words,    Perhaps the problem    Is our mind-set:    Our pervasive obsession –          At all levels – personal and otherwise    With money    And everything to do with it    For us, yes! To others, we deny          It is a sad irony, indeed    That those who wield    The power of life and death    Are – over their own – shockingly helpless          So, when next we grumble    About the so-called rot in the system    All we need do    Is a quick reality check:          Tell ourselves some home truths    Even if in the language of ‘the cool’:    ‘Wake up and smell the coffee!’    Perhaps, we are our own worst enemies.

Abubakar D. Sani, Esq.

22^nd April, 2021