The judiciary and corruption

Buhari’s concern about the courts is apt

President Muhammadu Buhari’s concern that the judiciary is key to a successful prosecution of the war on corruption is apt. According to the president, “on the fight against corruption vis-à-vis the judiciary, Nigerians will be right to say that is my main headache for now”.

The president made this observation during a town hall meeting with Nigerians in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to his special adviser on media and publicity, Mr Femi Adesina. We agree with the president that getting the judiciary to cooperate with the executive on this matter should be a major concern to him.

Indeed, without the judiciary buying into the vision of the president in the fight against corruption, not much will be achieved, after all while the executive is entrusted with investigating and charging corruption cases to court, the determination of the cases is entirely in the hands of the judges. So, the president was right in expressing optimism that with the support of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, he hoped to continue improving the criminal justice process in the country. We are however surprised that some commentators have interpreted the president’s statement to mean that he was bullying the judiciary from the pulpit.

If it were so, then the president would be off-the-mark. But, considering the performance of the judiciary in recent years, it is right to ask that arm of government to clean up its constituency. The accusation of corruption and inefficiency which the president’s admonition may also imply is not even unfounded, as some members of that very important arm of government had openly accused their colleagues of corruption. The issue of inefficiency in our courts is also backed by facts, as cases have dragged in the courts for years, in some instances, for decades. So, a call for transformation of the judiciary and the weeding out of corrupt judges is in the country’s best interest.

To achieve the desired change in our judiciary, the National Judicial Council (NJC) must rise up to its constitutional responsibility. The 1999 constitution, as amended in its Third Schedule, paragraph 21(b) provides that “the National Judicial Council shall have power to – recommend to the President the removal from office of the judicial officers specified in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph, and to exercise disciplinary control over such officers.” The body in sub-paragraph (d) also granted similar powers of recommendation to the Governors of states, for judicial officers named in sub-paragraph (c); thereby granting the body extensive disciplinary control over all judges of the states and federal high courts, Sharia Court of Appeal, Customary Court of Appeal, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

In the past, the NJC had exercised these powers to recommend the compulsory retirement of some judges found corrupt or inefficient. But the Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, has rightly raised the notch further, as corrupt judges will now not only be retired, but prosecuted for any criminal conduct. According to the minister, represented by his senior special assistant (white collar crimes) Abiodun Akiomo, at a presentation by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Projects (SERAP), “corrupt Judges will go to jail as the government of President Muhammadu Buhari will actively promote and ensure that corrupt judges are prosecuted and their illegally acquired assets are returned to the state”.

This threat, if carried out, would be a marked difference from the old practice of merely retiring corrupt judges, which was the subject of the report by SERAP, tagged, “Go home and sin no more: corrupt judges escaping justice in Nigeria.” For us, once a judge is found culpable by the NJC and has been retired based on its recommendation, it is important that such a judge is brought to a trial, if the grounds for his retirement border on criminal conduct, particularly corrupt enrichment. Not long ago, a judge whose allegation of misconduct was about to be determined by the NJC quickly sent in his retirement notice, and ended up as a first class traditional ruler.

Interestingly also, some judges who were found culpable for corrupt conducts and were retired based on the recommendation of the NJC, turned around to sue the NJC, challenging their retirement. While judges who have been unfairly treated should approach the courts for redress, those who were retired for corrupt enrichment, among other vices, and are challenging it, should have their files forwarded to relevant prosecution agencies, for further action. Of course, it is also important to reiterate that while a corrupt judge constitutes a danger to the society, a successful prosecution of a case starts from an efficient investigation and a virile prosecution, which is not in a judge’s hand.

Without impinging on the constitutional rights and privileges of a judge in the exercise of his/her duties, all stakeholders should do what is needed, to gift our country an efficient judiciary.