Without a shred of doubt, the Nigerian judiciary has been more of a foe than a friend; it is too consumed with financial consideration which is the reason we have cases going on for decades in our courts.
“I sincerely believe that the president as the Head of State and Chief Executive of the Federation, by virtue of Section 130 of the constitution, has the power to express concern and call on the CJN to explain what happened. “He can do this through the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation as the chief law officer of the state. In his capacity, the president as the chief executive can, through the AGF, direct the Federal Judicial Service Commission or the National Judicial Council, both as federal executive bodies under the Third Schedule to the Constitution, to query all the justices of the Supreme Court involved in this scandalous illegality.” – Lagos-based lawyer Johnson Esezoobo
Much as I do not subscribe to Lawyer Esezoobo’s anger-induced views which form the epigram to this piece, I haven’t the slightest doubt that some elements within the Nigerian judiciary must silently be thanking their stars that President Muhammadu Buhari did not come, this time around, as a military head of state. When last Sunday I quoted Femi Falana, SAN, ad nauseam, detailing how some members of the bar and the bench are doing everything to undermine the president’s anti-corruption war, little did I know that worse was to come. For in the space of a few days, the Supreme Court showed very clearly that the Nigerian judiciary is not ‘ad idem’ with the president when he says corruption is capable of killing Nigeria. Nigerian courts have no qualms, whatever, giving succour to anybody standing trial on corruption charges as in the Ibori case, easily demonstrating how hollow the Nigerian judiciary really is. But with sections 306 and 309 of the New Administration of Criminal Justice Act still live in our books, the Supreme Court decision staying proceedings in the Saraki case before the Code of Conduct Tribunal must take the cake in judicial infamy. It became worse, when Mike Ozekhome, an otherwise respected Senior Advocate, flew into unpardonable sophistry, claiming that though applicable at the lower courts, the administration of criminal justice act does not apply at the Supreme Court as if Nigerian courts operate different laws. It doesn’t get more worrisome. When I remember how fetchingly Professor Biodun Jeyifo celebrated the Act in his column in The Nation on Sunday of 23 August, 2015, even bringing Falana in to validate his position, I could not help conclude that newspaper columnists , in our clime, most probably labour in vain. All the same, could he have also had the Supreme Court judges in mind when he wrote as follows in that article: “. . . this concluding essay in our series on effective prosecutions versus probes as weapons in the war against corruption in our country will focus on the Administration of Justice Act of 2015. Most Nigerians, including lawyers, seem either to be totally unaware of the existence of this Act or if they are aware of its existence, do not seem to have a grasp of what it would take to make it work”. Did our Lord Justices become seized of it only when the likes of highly regarded Chief Folake Solanke,SAN, Professor Itse Sagay, SAN, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, Mr Femi Falana, SN, Jiti Ogunye and Malachy began to vent their spleen on the Apex Court? For space constraint, I quote only Professor Sagay: “The new Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 has completely eliminated any application or grant of stay of actions or proceedings in criminal trials; it prohibits it. So, what the Supreme Court has done is illegal and it is shocking that the Supreme Court would indulge in illegalities. “It is a complete affront to the law that is binding on them (S’Court) and it is a bad example to the rest of the judiciary and the country. There is no question about that.”Now, we have to call on them to revoke their own illegality and that is a more difficult thing because pride will make it difficult for them to accept that what they have done is an affront to the law. But that is the only thing that has to be done’.
Nigerians were certainly not surprised when the Punch reported in its Thursday, 19 November, 2015 edition that the Chief Justice of Nigeria may be disbanding that panel of Supreme Court Judges. It got so bad even Esozoobor thinks the president should play the role of an overseer over the judiciary – a complete anathema. But who can blame him?
I think it is apposite, for a thorough understanding of how the judiciary continues to undermine the president’s anti-corruption war, that I conclude this piece with Femi Falana’s views, again, as I captured them on these pages last Sunday. Said Falana: “The menace of corruption is compounded by the impunity of the ruling class. It is, therefore, pertinent to join issues with the lawyers who are being used to frustrate the anti-corruption war. Although the NBA condemns corruption in both the bar and the bench, it is public knowledge that some senior lawyers have since been recruited to frustrate the prosecution of corrupt elements in the society. The president’s appeal to lawyers to help in the fight has since fallen on deaf ears as these senior lawyers are determined to frustrate the trial of corruption cases. In the past three months, several interim and interlocutory orders have been issued by the federal and state high courts which have prevented the anti-graft agencies from prosecuting certain highly placed individuals accused of involvement in corrupt practices and other economic and financial crimes. In fact, a judge in the Federal High Court has granted not less than 10 of such orders. I also know of a State High Court judge who has ordered the police not to charge some indicted murder suspects to court. From the information at my disposal, these illegal orders were procured by some senior lawyers contrary to the settled position of the law. Granting of interlocutory injunctions to restrain the police or anti-graft agencies from investigating allegations of corruption and other criminal offences is illegal, and unconstitutional, as no court has the power to turn any person into an outlaw in a country which operates under the rule of law. In Fajemirokun v. CCB Nig. Ltd. (2009) 21 WRN 10 the
In the same vein in the case of Dododo v. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission & Ors. (2013) 1 NWLR ( PT 1336) 468 at 510 the Court of Appeal held: “The EFCC and the ICPC enjoy the status of the powers vested in the police that encompasses the duty to examine a complaint or petition, investigate and prosecute, if necessary, and that when a petition or complaint is made the statutory body, their duty to look at the complaint cannot be suppressed.” In spite of the clear pronouncements of the appellate courts to the effect no court can confer immunity on criminal suspects, high court judges have continued to frustrate the anti-graft agencies from arresting, investigating and prosecuting influential persons accused of involvement in serious cases of corruption, fraud and other economic crimes. No doubt, the lawyers involved in the charade are promoting corruption and subverting the rule of law under the guise of protecting the fundamental rights of their clients”.
It is a shame that it is the same group of lawyers you find going the rounds, shopping for courts in all parts of the country, eagerly looking for unprincipled members of their fraternity who would do their bidding. I cannot forget in a hurry, both the late Mr. Justice Kayose Esho, and Aare Afe Babalola once saying, at the end of a meeting of the Institute of Arbitrators, a few years ago that many lawyers have become billionaires through bribes related to election matters. PMB’s anti-corruption war would go nowhere unless the Nigerian judiciary puts Nigeria first. Without a shred of doubt, the Nigerian judiciary has been more of a foe than a friend; it is too consumed with financial consideration which is the reason we have cases going on for decades in our courts. Nigerians must call their bluff.
NATION
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