Justice Karatu: Preventing Court Proceedings From Taking Place A Brutal Assault On Rule Of Law And Judicial Independence—Access To Justice

A rights activist group, Access to Justice has stated it that preventing any judicial officer from carrying out her lawful duties by way of denying her access to entrance to courtroom is not only a gratuitous contempt of the adjudicatory authority of the courts but an affront to rule of and administration of justice in Nigeria.

The convener of the group, Joseph Otteh, made this statement while reacting to the alleged embarrassment and humiliation of the former acting Chief Judge of Kebbi State, Justice Elizabeth Karatu, by a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps member on her last day in office.

Otteh, also said that this is not the first time that Judges have been prevented from accessing their courts. He recalled the events that took place in Ekiti State in 2014.

According to him in every instance where this happens through the deliberate act of a person or authority, it is a gratuitous contempt of the adjudication authority of the courts as well as a grave assault on the rule of law and the administration of justice in Nigeria. It is one of the most sinister ways of preventing courts from playing their roles as arbiters of disputes and guardians of the liberties of the people and thereby represents a major threat to the rule of law and democracy.

“Legally speaking, what the official of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps did was a classic act of judicial contempt – contempt of court, in all of its complexion. Whoever authorized the said officer to prevent Justice Karatu from accessing her court is also a principal contemnor and all of them should be made accountable for their actions. It is also an interference with the administration of justice which is a criminal offence in quite a number of jurisdictions, including, possibly, Kebbi State

“The incident has profound other implications: the day of the incident was the last official working day for Justice Karatu as a judicial officer. She was in court to deliver final verdicts. The Constitution requires that court proceedings must be held in open court. Preventing Justice Karatu from accessing her office invariably means that she couldn’t deliver her judgements in a legitimate way, and no longer could do so validly after that day.

“This means that the entire trial conducted on the case(s) due for judgment would return a blank, and the efforts and expenses of everyone involved in them in vain. This would be a huge travesty, and a major set-back for the access to justice rights of those concerned, given that the right to a fair and reasonably-timed trial is a constitutional right, besides representing a major waste of public resources expended in conducting the trial. Those responsible for interfering with the judicial process in this malevolently obstructive way and occasioning these futilities must be held responsible for their actions.

He is calling on the judiciary to stand against this impunity and any form of attack against the independence of the judiciary.

“A Strong Response Needed: What the Judiciary Must Do

If the Judiciary allows any form of this impunity to stand, it will shoot itself in the foot, inflicting harm on itself and its own powers and dignity, while opening the gates for repeat occurrences of similar acts in the future. If its responses come up short or light, it sends an ambivalent message about its own strength or resolve to defend itself when its core values are attacked, as well as its integrity as an institution of government. A weak response will further reduce the image of the Judiciary in the eyes of both members of the Judiciary and the wider public.

The leadership of the Judiciary (in both Kebbi State and nationally) must therefore;
• fully, impartially and transparently investigate the incident and bring those responsible for interfering with the administration of justice in this way to account;
• Related to this, it will also be particularly important to interrogate the response of the (acting) Chief Judge of Kebbi State Justice Sulaiman Ambursa to the incident and clarify whether he knew of it at the time it was taking place and responded to it in a manner expected of a person at the helm of the State’s Judiciary. Should his response be found wanting, this should be grounds for concluding that he cannot discharge the functions of a Chief Judge competently.
• Where the laws applicable in Kebbi State establish the offence of interference with the administration of justice, ensure criminal prosecution of all persons responsible for interfering with Justice Karatu’s right and duty to access her court room and deliver her judgments,” he stated.

In conclusion, he added that if Nigeria’s Judiciary steps up to the plate, and offers a principled and bold intervention on this incident, this would be a significant way for the Judiciary’s new leadership to announce that change is underway and that the Judiciary will no longer be a stamping ground for acts capable of publicly ridiculing it. This is the kind of hope Nigerians desperately seek to see in the horizon, however distant it seems, particularly in these troubling times.