The Judiciary Under Siege By Douglas Ogbankwa Esq.

The Country is currently in awe watching a video that has gone viral, where Personnel of the Civil Defence Corps prevented a Judge from accessing My Lord’s Court Room for the purpose of delivering a Judgment.

How did we get here ?

The conspiracy of silence of Lawyers and Judicial Regulatory Bodies has enboldened the trauducers so much .

Earlier in the year, Governor Bello of Kogi State walked out the Chief Judge of Kogi State in a Public Function!The Code of Conduct Tribunal through a controversial Exparte Motion removed the Chief Justice of Nigeria , Justice Walter S C Onnogen. The current Chief Justice presented himself to the President to be sworn against the Guidelines of the N.J.C. and the N.J.C . turned a blind eye, even while sacking the former Chief Judge of Abia on similar facts and circumstances.

The Kebbi State Government removed the Chief Judge of the State, with out recourse to the National Judicial Council as provided for, by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999 (As Amended).

The National Judicial Council itself,is one of the problems of the Judiciary.
A Body that applies its Guidelines and the Law Selectively to favour vested interests at the heighest echelon of Judicial Administration,can be said to be complicit in the siege on the Judiciary.

We require amendments to our Laws.
The Judiciary should be insulated from any kind of encounter from the Executive and the Legislature.
The Law should provide for the Judiciary to maintain its Security apparatus to preclude the shame and sham we encountered in Kebbi State recently.
The Law should also be amended to provide that the Chief Justice of Nigeria should not be Chairman of the National Judicial Council.Ditto for the State.A retired Supreme Court or Court of

Appeal Justice should be the Chairman
We must extricate our Judiciary from the clutches of morbid politics. We must also insulate Judicial Appointments from Political Interference. It is now or never!