The change mantra of the Muhammadu Bu­hari government is not likely to be an idle rallying cry. His reputation for austerity and honesty remains unchal­lenged. And most importantly, the emergence of Buhari, pres­ents Nigeria, with the dynam­ics, to look again with a fresh pair of binoculars, at the cor­rupt underbelly of our political community.
And perhaps not surprisingly, the revelations spewing out from the various investigations across the land have been simply dismaying.

No tier of our national life, it seems, has been free from the acrid stranglehold of cor­ruption. Critical incumbents of iconic national institutions, have one after the other, been found to have violated their mandates and engaged in self-help, often on scales that are both shocking and primitive.

The Defence institution, health insurance, pension en­tity, Immigration Service, the oil Industry, along with a wide range of other national plat­forms, appear to have been deranged by the practice of nepotism. It is as if the Nige­rian nation has come face-to-face with a tempest of malfea-sance.

Corruption is an ancient evil in Nigeria, and most govern­ments in our country, tend to come off the blocks, promising to castrate venality in public life. Almost always, their cam­paigns, loud and voluble in the beginning, end up in unim­pressive whimpers.

However because citizens feel cheated and denied, there has always been a growing clamour for the head of thiev­ing incumbents. This passion to wreak vengeance on viola­tors of the public trust, some­times adopts dysfunctional turns.

A natural resentment and jealousy of incumbents of public office has become an important feature of the Nige­rian public space. This trend can perhaps be explained on at least two grounds. The alien­ation of the people from the state has a colonial ancestry. Citizens saw the state as an alien category, whose only in­terest was to collect taxes and cart away our resources.

The post-colonial state was not much different: white fac­es; black masks. The black rul­ing elite has merely extended the colonial tradition of ex­ploiting the people. Thus from independence till date, the ordinary folks feel no sense of union with either the Nigerian state or its ruling elite.

Only very few of our leaders or incumbents have been truly loved by the citizens. This re­sidual resentment of the Nige­rian state, along with recurrent private jealousies have made public offices an extremely hazardous territory. Watching the mighty fall from high of­fice has consequently become a popular spectator sport.

Corruption is not a new transgression. It has merely grown in intensity. It existed in the First Republic, and caused various panels of enquiry to be set up to investigate public of­ficials. One Oredein, a famous Ibadan politician was jailed for misdemeanors. In the 1970s also, for example, Mr. Njovens, a high ranked police official was convicted for corruption, so was Mr. Kila, a direc-tor of the NYSC in its pioneering years.

Corruption was also fa­mously cited by the leaders of Nigeria’s first coup, and also by leaders of other subsequent coups or change of govern­ment ever since. We have never had a golden past, and no one should cultivate that illusion. However the incidence of cor­ruption has increased, and so has the distrust of the people for an uncaring leadership.

The judiciary is an impor­tant institution of state. It has played historic role in promo­tion of good governance in Nigeria. It has had its blem­ishes, and the National Judi­cial Commission, NJC, has frequently had to wield the big stick to uphold integrity. The Nigerian judiciary is not a col­lection if angels, but it has had an astonishing capacity for re­newal and regeneration.

A few years ago, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, re­leased its first ever crime and corruption survey. The report dealt with an impact assess­ment of corruption on busi­nesses in Nigeria, based on the experience of entrepreneurs.

Institutions identified as cor­rupt were the Police, PHCN and Custom among others. The judiciary, not unreason­ably, was listed in the report as the least corrupt.

It is no doubt, adverse enough, that any form of cor­ruption attaches to the udi­ciary in Nigeria. But surely, it is also remarkable that the Nigerian udiciary contains im­portant elements of idealism, certainly dominant enough, to make our Judiciary stand taller than many of our national in-stitutions. And yet going by prevailing narratives, some want us to see our judiciary as belonging to the dark ages. The misdemeanour of one bad egg is employed to unjustly de­monize a national institution.

In addition to enlarging upon the misdemeanour of a few, it seems that detractors feel no restraint in unleashing frivolous attacks on innocent incumbents in the judiciary. Once a hallowed entity, the judiciary has been turned by these miscreants into a target of unwholesome mudslinging.

One simple incident will put this narrative in bold relief. In April 2015, a firm, with a histo­ry of publishing legal content, made public presentation of a book called an “Encyclopedia of the Rules and Practices of the Supreme Court in Nigeria,” dedicated to Justice Ibrahim Auta, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.

The book, edited by one Mr. Kola Martins Aduloja, is a tome of over 3,000 pages; had its presentation widely publi­cized and was attended by le­gal, social and political elites. What has been seized upon by a certain section and par­ticularly, by a so called Civil Network Against Corruption, is that it was unethical for Jus­tice Auta to attend an event in which Chief Gabriel Igbinedi-on was not only present but also made a donation of N8 million.

Heavy weather seems to have been made out of the fact that Michael Igbinedion, a son of the Chief had a subsisting mat­ter in one of our courts at the time. The matter was resolved rather controversially later, but this had nothing to do with Justice Auta or his court. The book was not written by Justice Auta, nor was Chief Igbinedion invited by the distinguished judge.

A proper growth of Nigerian jurisprudence will be guaran­teed, among other things, by a judiciary that is remote, impar­tial and dignified. Justice Auta participated in the presenta­tion of the Encyclopedia only pursuant to the achievement of this goal and to the extent that the publication would have im­portant consequences for the practice of law. But important­ly, there was no guest of honour at the ceremony and those who gave money, including Chief Igbinedion, did so only as quid pro quo for specific copies of the publication.

It is also curious that some anxiety has been raised by the fact that this legal publica­tion was dedicated to Justice Auta, Chief Judge of the Fed­eral High Court. It was not a responsibility he so-licited. In accepting to play that role, he may have indeed been guided by precedence.

The owners of the Encyclope­dia have had a history of legal publishing, and have in the past presented a number of books to the public. In 2011, it published a book called “The Fundamen­tals of Electoral Reforms in Ni­geria,” which was dedicated to Justice Lawal Uwais. Another book published in 2013 called “Impact of Judicial Activism on Electoral Law and Democ­racy in Nigeria” was dedicated to Justice Musdapher Dahiru, CJN. So on grounds of pre­cedence and good taste, it is evident that Justice Auta is in excellent company.

However, this is Nigeria. There is no shortage of ped­dlers of malice. A combina­tion of alienation and private frustrations often causes the disadvantaged to pour venom on whoever is ahead of him. Sometimes, he attacks unpleas­antness, but often, he tragically gets in the way of those who provide sterling service. When politics gets dragged into this computation, the enemies’ mo­tives become less scrutable and more difficult to unravel.

However our judiciary under its current leaderships, deserve to be applauded not only for the contributions it has made to the growth of our jurispru­dence, but also for the support it has provided for the expan­sion of good governance in our country. Those who today exalt in the defeat of an incum­bent Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, government, must ac­knowledge that this would not have been possible, if the All Progressives Congress, APC, failed to get registered.

It is also important to re­call that when serving gover­nors and high profile persons moved from PDP to APC, no legal sanctions were invoked. Whatever the laws provide, a less upright judiciary could have engaged in a bit of legal waywardness in favour of the ruling PDP.

Whereas we have commend­ed the gallantry of former President Goodluck Jonathan in conceding, we seem to have largely ignored the firmness and resilience of the Nigerian judiciary, which in spite of the legal fancy foot-work of vari­ous interest groups, stood firm, and refused to stop either the use of the card reader, or the swearing in of President Bu­hari.

The perverse attempt to stop the Buhari presidential ticket, on grounds that he was unable to produce his West African School Certificate, cut no ice with the judiciary.

The Nigerian judiciary is not about to walk into a golden sunset. It has several subsisting problems. But it has also had its moments of mild glory. Those like Justice Auta, who have had a hand in promoting this prospect, do not deserve to be maligned or mischaracterized. If we cannot help, we have no need to hinder.

Let us allow honest labourers in the law, to continue quietly growing our jurisprudence, so that good governance can prevail in our country. Surely, they are sacred grounWds, even in the Nigerian Republic of Corruption.

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