By Tony Nwajiugo
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As Nigeria celebrates its 63rd Independence, I believe it is a time for sober reflection and scorecard assessment of the tenets of democracy and the role of the judiciary as the last hope of the common man in Nigeria.
The role judiciary plays in any society or country can best be appreciated by the evergreen statement of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “There can be no justice without peace, and there can be no peace without justice”. And like Lord Hewart, one of the great legal luminaries of all times observed, “it is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done”.
Unfortunately, many Nigerians have lost confidence in the possibility of droplets of justice dripping from Nigerian courts and this is fueled by the general perception of the populace that there exists plethora of politically motivated inconsistent judgments devoid of justice which are being delivered by our courts hence the common belief that justice is not tenable in Nigeria. The recent judgment of the supreme court striking out the suit of Mr. Machina Bashir Sheriff which in effect affirmed the All progressive Congress (APC) senatorial primary elections that declared Senator Ahmed Lawan as the winner have generated a lot of backlash on the judiciary from the populace. The summary of the above case is to the effect that Mr. Machina Bashir Sherrif alleged to have emerged as the winner of the Yobe North senatorial primaries organized by the APC committee on the 28th of May 2022 but was bewildered with the action of APC who submitted the name of Senator Ahmed Lawan as the APC nominee for Yobe North Senatorial election hence the reason, he approached the court for a declaration that he is the person who duly won the APC primaries for Yobe North Senatorial election. It is part of the facts canvassed in the above case that Senator Ahmed Lawan had earlier participated in the presidential primaries of APC on the 6th of June 2022 and having lost the said election thereon purchased form for Yobe North Senatorial election and thereon participated in another kangaroo primaries purportedly organized by APC on the 9th of June 2022 outside the timeline guideline released by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) hence the reason Mr. Machina Bashir Sheriff had submitted the matter for adjudication before Federal High Court, Damaturu division through originating summon procedure. It is a fact that the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal agreed with the prayers of Mr. Machina Bashir Sheriff but his hope was totally dashed at the Supreme Court when the learned justices of the Supreme Court struck out his case on the grounds that same was commenced through a wrong procedure of law. The aforementioned case of Senator Ahmed Lawan is almost akin in facts to the case of Senator Godswill Akpabio who participated in the APC presidential primaries and later purchased form for Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial election which had already been conducted. These aforementioned decisions from the Apex court of the land have spurred a lot of controversies and have led many to question the sincerity of the judiciary towards upholding justice and the rule of law as the judiciary is perceived to be endorsing reckless actions perpetuated by politicians. Some of the questions that comes to mind in the case of Ahmed Lawan are as follows; was there a timeline for conducting senatorial primaries and was such timeline met by APC as regards the second primaries that produced Senator Ahmed Lawan? Should the issue of wrong procedure for commencement of the matter rank more in justice than the act of rascality perpetuated by APC through the conduct of a second senatorial primaries outside the statutory timeline provided by INEC? What is the implication of a candidate who took part in two primaries as regards the provision of electoral Act? Would the course of justice have been defeated by the length of time required to conclude a matter commenced through a writ of summon? Could the supreme Court in the interest of justice have ordered for a retiral of the matter in event of unresolved justiciable issues as can be deduced from the arguments of the parties before the court? These and many more questions are issues that have kept many Nigerians in a state of disillusionment as regards the courage of the court to curb political impunity of the political class.
Besides the two recent judgments that have been discussed above, the Nigerian masses were thrown into turmoil sometime in January 2020 wherein the Supreme Court nullified the election of Emeka Ihedioha of People’s Democratic Party and went on to declare Mr. Hope Uzodinma of All Progressive Congress who prior to the case in court was declared 4th in position by INEC as the winner of the election. The news of this judgment has precipitated many questions from both informed and uniformed Nigerians as to the mathematical formular or ratio adopted by the Supreme Court to arrive at the said decision which many have posited to be fueling the current insecurity within Imo state.
In essence, the insight shared by a lot of Nigerians who rather see injustices in some of these cases, have culminated to a loss of confidence in the courts and by extension the judiciary. Little wonder they brand the courts as corrupt, filled with judges who are ready and willing to do the biddings of money bags or influential people in the society. The issue of corruption allegations in the judiciary is not new as in recent time the human right activist Professor Chidi Odinkalu was heard alleging appointment of incompetent cronies, mistresses of supreme court judges and politicians as Magistrates and judges against the laid down procedure for appointment of judicial officer.
The position of Professor Chidi Odinkalu was further reemphasized by a publication made by the Learned Silk, Ebun Adegboruwa titled ‘Transactional Justice’ wherein he posed certain questions as to whether justice is actually for sale and whether politicians have mobile injunctions already signed by judges and magistrates as believed by many Nigerians. Also, of recent, Robert Clarke SAN has warned against the dangerous dimensions of the influence of politics on justice administration generally and which has festered in our courts with judges who are now thirstier for political cases than cases that safeguard the rights of common masses.
The perceived rot in the judiciary probably gave the administration of Buhari the effrontery to accuse the third arm of government of corruption and further moved against the judiciary in 2016, when he deployed the security apparatus to carry out the infamous sting operation on the residents of judges, including a Supreme Court Justice who was arraigned in court, although, he was later discharged and acquitted. It is apposite that it was during this same administration that a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, was allegedly sacked for giving false information about his assets in his Assets Declaration form submitted to the Code of Conduct
Bureau. Whether true or false as the allegation may seem, this calls for a lot of soul searching as to the integrity of the judiciary whose principal head was subjected to scrutiny by the executive arm of the government contrary to the hallowed principle of separation of power.
Unlike the case of Honourable Justice Onnoghen (CJN-Retired) where the allegations of corruption came from outside the judiciary, that of Honourable Justice Muhammad (CJNRetired) was from 14 of his colleagues on the same bench at the apex court. Their allegations were contained in a form of protest letter wherein they complained about the non-availability of basic amenities both in their chambers and homes, which according to them was capable of shutting down activities at the final court. Specifically, they had complained about the non-replacement of poor vehicles; accommodation problems; lack of drugs at the Supreme Court clinic; epileptic electricity supply to the Supreme Court; increase in electricity tariff; no increase in allowances for diesel; lack of internet services to residences and chambers. Others are internet problems including non-signing of amended Rules of Court for almost three years; sudden stoppage of two to three foreign workshops and training per annum for Justices; no provision of qualified legal assistants. The deplorable situation was such that the Chief Registrar was said to have served Justices with an internal memo, that electricity would be supplied to the Court between the hours of 8am and 4pm daily, for lack of diesel. The implication of this memo is that the Justices must finish their work and close before 4pm. With all due respect, this is the peak of the degeneration of the Court; it is the height of decadence and clear evidence of the absence of probity and moral rectitude. This act alone portends imminent danger to the survival of this Court and the Judiciary as an institution, which is gradually drifting to extinction, a source had said.
Prior to the protest letter by the 14 Justices of the apex court, a former Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Ejembi Eko, had brought to the fore the rot and decay in the judiciary, at a valedictory session held for him during his retirement from the bench of the apex court. Eko JSC, particularly berated the National Judicial Council (NJC) for still keeping judges whose conduct he said “were grave and were clearly designed to undermine the rule of law and to deliberately cause confusion and unleash anarchy” because their action was coming at a time the country is preparing for a crucial general election. He was referring to how the council handled the issue of three judges indicted for giving conflicting judgments. And he submitted as follows: ‘With all deference to the NJC; the punishments fell short of the expectations of the public that these bad eggs should have been broken or smashed and or/exterminated to serve as deterrence … when the punishment for an “outstandingly bad and outrageous conduct” is far too lenient it encourages impunity and is likely to be repeated by others.’
Sometime in June 2023, the internet went agog with the open confession of Senator Bulkachuwa, husband to retired president of the Court of Appeal Justice Bulkachuwa, who during a senate plenary session admitted in camera to have severally influenced and impaired the course of justice through his wife, the retired PCA and which was done as favors to some of his political friends. This is least to say despicable, shameful and a horrid smear on the image of the Nigerian judiciary and ought to have been thoroughly investigated. Whether true of false, the damage has been done and leaves a sour taste in the mouths of poor masses who can hardly view the judiciary as a refuge of succor for our nascent democracy
The corruption and ineptitude associated with the lower cadre of judiciary staff is a discussion for another day as litigation lawyers in several articles have bemoaned the unprecedented level of extortion in the form of unofficial bail money, unofficial process service fee, unofficial CTC fee and so on which litigants and lawyers suffer in the hands of these judiciary employees whose primary purpose of employment is to aid the course of justice but seem to now constitute a clog in the wheel of justice.
In the light of challenges bedeviling the judiciary, one begins to wonder the fate of the common man whose last hope ought to be the judiciary. The notion of justice lies more in the perception rather than reality and which was why Aharon Barak, president of the Israeli Supreme Court in his book titled ‘The judge in a Democracy’ (2006) Edition opined that an essential condition for realizing the judicial role is public confidence in the judge. This entails confidence in judicial independence, fairness and impartiality. In fact, Justice Ebiowei Tobi (JCA) in the case of Adamu V. FRN (2021) LPELR-54598 opined that to be a judicial officer takes more than knowledge of the law and being intelligent but more so requires good character in both strict and general sense of the word.
Consequent upon the foregoing, it is my humble submission that our courts should make the necessary sacrifice required to boost public confidence in the judiciary and which entails having judicial officers whose integrity, character and knowledge is above board to the admiration and respect of well-meaning country men. It is also apposite to emphasize, that the rules, technicalities, systems, interpretation and jurisprudence of law which may solely appear reasonable and rational to lawyers and judges should be aptly deployed in a manner and form where the common man without the adequate knowledge of law will be able to appreciate that each case being adjudicated before our courts have been adjudged with the required dosage of justice and this resonates with the words of Lord Denning that justice must be rooted in public confidence; and confidence is destroyed when right minded people go away thinking: the judge was biased.
In conclusion, our dear country, Nigeria and its institutions are in a sore state and beckons on our political leaders, judges, lawyers, technocrats, clergies and every citizen to make deliberate commitment towards promotion of democracy, Rule of Law, and justice as we are all aware that we have only one country-Nigeria and the country that we build today shall be the heaven or hell that our children will enjoy or suffer tomorrow.
God Bless Nigeria!
Written By Tony Nwajiugo (LL.M), Managing Partner, Hullbridge Solicitors. 08069544555
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