Major stakeholders in the nation’s judiciary have been battling to rescue the third arm of government-judiciary from total collapse following allegations of bribery and corruption which shook its foundation last week. Until last week, judges were treated like gods. But the tide has since changed as they were hauled into detention like common criminals by agency that lacks powers to investigate corruption.
But like a holocaust, judiciary was hit by allegations of bribery and corruption. The holocaust has put the third arm of government in public glare as seven judges including two Supreme Court Justices were arrested by the Department of Security Services (DSS).
They were accused of stashing millions of various denominations both in hard and local currencies being proceeds of corruption to pervert the course of justice in their various jurisdictions. Although many had seen the DSS’ search and invasion on the premises of judges as a sad development in the nation’s legal history by what the secret police described as inevitable circumstances, no Judges had ever been subjected to a search and arrest from the Colonial period until last week.
This was not because there was any law protecting judges’ immunity against arrest and criminal prosecution. Rather it was based on a convention arising from the need to respect the dignity and sanctity of the Judiciary.
In other words, the practice of respect for members of the Judiciary was a convention, not a binding rule of law. Members of the Judiciary do not enjoy immunity against searches and arrests under any law hence the sustenance of sanctity of the person, office and residence of a judge however depended on the continued maintenance by the judge of decorum, dignity, honesty and integrity.
This position, according to the Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Professor Itsey Sagay was nothing but a “practice of respect for members of the Judiciary was a convention, not a binding rule of law.”
Last Thursday, DSS has also confirmed that more Supreme Court Justices will be arrested for alleged corruption. Already, two of them; Justices Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta were arrested by the secret police last week.
Others comprising of Federal High Court judges are Justices Adeniyi Ademola, of the Abuja division; Kabir Auta of the Kano High Court; Muazu Pindiga of the Gombe High Court, Mohammed Tsamiya of the Court of Appeal in Ilorin and the Chief Judge of Enugu State, I. A. Umezulike.
Justices Umezulike, Auta, and Tsamiya had earlier been recommended for sack by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for alleged corrupt activities. Justices Okoro and Ngwuta were arrested in connection with an alleged bribery offered by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
Ngwuta allegedly travelled to Qatar to pick up bribes that he shared with Okoro and some others. It was further alleged that large sum of money was recovered in both Justices Ngwuta and Okoro residents and documents of estates worth over N1.5 billion were recovered.
At the residence of Justice Ademola, the DSS said it recovered at least $400, 000 and N39 million in cash, in addition to documents of landed property belonging to the federal judge even though the judges were later admitted to bail on self-recognizance and asked to be reporting to the headquarters of the service in Abuja.
DSS operatives last week embarked on what they described as a sting operation when they surrounded the judges’ houses for hours before they eventually broke in at about 1am on October 8 and after searching the houses, the security agents eventually took Justice Ademola away at about 5am.
Also in Gombe, DSS arrested Justice Muazu Pindiga, who was the first chairman of the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal, before he was changed midway into the hearing of the dispute arising from the 2015 governorship election in the state.
However, though refuted, Telegraph law had scooped that the raid on both Ademola and Dimgba’s residents was in connection with some of the judgements the judges had pronounced against the service.
The source noted that the service has not been pleased with some of the pronouncements of the judges. According to the source, “the DSS is saddened that after securing arrest and charging suspects to courts, the judges will frustrate the matter through their unfavourable pronouncements.
The DSS is not comfortable with their vocal criticism for violating rights of persons detained at its facility and making it looks bad in the face of Nigerians.” It was further revealed that one of the reasons why DSS ignored court orders was because such orders were not genuinely obtained, but rather purchased. “Some of the judgements are questionable. The DSS has already commenced investigation to establish a link between the judges handling the matter and the defendants as the case may be.
That is one reason why the secret service has refused to obey some of the orders, because we know that they are not obtained on the grounds of justice,” the source said. As that was not enough, the DSS had put all measures in place to go after eight more judges, senior lawyers, retired judges and politicians who were believed to be links between the judges and parties. The Service had earlier place a web on all the calls between some judges and senior lawyers who had been acting as conduit pipes to collect bribe for them.
This has made the secret service to have all the conversations that took place at different times between different judges and some senior lawyers. Also, it was gathered that the service due to its lack of confidence in the judiciary is working towards establishing special court which will try the arrested judges and others that had been penciled down for arrest.
The advisory committee on anticorruption headed by Professor Itsey Sagay (SAN) is to facilitate the setting up of the committee. “The service knows that some people have been serving as a courier of the bribe for the judges. But their days are numbered. The service has gotten their details and there is enough evidence against them.
They shall be arrested and brought to book. We know that some retired judges are now serving as consultants to sitting judges. They meet with parties who are having cases before a judge and they negotiate. These retired judges also serve as a courier of the bribe.
The service is also aware that some of the senior lawyers which their list has been compiled already serve as middlemen between parties and the judges. Also politicians are involved. None of them will go unpunished”, the source stated.
The DSS had earlier identified the perceived corruption in the judiciary as reason it did not obey some of the orders emanated from the court. Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmoud Mohammed described his colleagues’ arrest as sad and condemnable.
Nevertheless, Justice Mohammed had continued to appeal for calm as he said “it is indeed very saddened and deeply regrettable, the distressing and unfortunate incident which occurred on Friday 7 October and Sunday 8 October 2016.
“However, I must ask all Nigerians to remain calm and prayerful as an emergency meeting of the National Judicial Council will comprehensively look into the matter. “I must express my sincere appreciation to the executive of the Nigerian Bar Association ably led by the President, Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, and indeed all members of the legal professions, for their prompt action and continued support.” But major stakeholders in justice administration are worried.
Their worry is that the sanctity of the person, office and residence and dignity which immune judges from arrest had been destroyed. Although the stakeholders admitted that there was the need to rid the Bench of corruption.
They viewed the arrest and invasion by the DSS of the judges’ homes as barbaric and the height of degrading ever visited on the judiciary since independence. The stakeholders including older Senior Advocates of Nigeria were unhappy although the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Anti- corruption, Professor Sagay and the nation’s Justice Minister and Attorney-General, Malam Abubakar Malami, both Senior Advocates held different views.
For instance, Sagay backed the DSS arrest of the judges. Sagay said: “The searches of the premises of judges by the DSS, is a sad development in our legal history brought about by inevitable circumstances.
Although no Judges had ever been subjected to search of premises and arrest, from the Colonial period until recently, this was not because there was any law protecting judges’ immunity against arrest and criminal prosecution. Rather it was based on a convention arising from the need to respect the dignity and sanctity of the Judiciary.
“In other words, the practice of respect for members of the Judiciary was a convention, not a binding rule of law. Members of the Judiciary do not enjoy immunity against searches, and arrests under any law. Therefore the sustenance of sanctity of the person, office and residence of a Judge depended on the continued maintenance by the Judge of decorum, dignity, honesty and integrity.
“The explosive and expanding epidemic of judicial corruption, which has taken an alarming character since the 2007 elections, has totally overturned the culture of respect and for the judiciary and brought the revered institution into disrepute and ignominy.
“The epic and corrosive nature of the problem has made the system expressly laid down for dealing with judicial indiscipline, that is, the NJC system, totally ineffective. The level of moral depravity and the enormous number of culprits engaged in aggressive or rampaging corruption was just too much for the orthodox system of discipline to deal with.
The amount of raw cash recovered in the process of the DSS searches is mind boggling. We therefore have a situation in which a deadly disease was threatening the very existence of democracy and the rule of law. “In other words, ultimately, the very foundation of our democracy was in danger of collapsing.
For if elections are contested in the manner of a bloody conflict in which the victor is like a military conqueror, is then endorsed by the Judiciary, then democracy has been abandoned in favour of jungle culture where life will be nasty brutish and short.
The endorsement of electoral victories, by violence, fraud and rigging is an abandonment of civilization and a descent into anarchy, disorder leading to a dysfunctional society. The question must be: do we take drastic and unprecedented steps to sanitize the judiciary and save the institution from those who are prepared to drag it and our democracy down for filthy lucre? Or do we twiddle our fingers in despair and let the shameful erosion and retrogression of a once famous and revered institution to go on?
“This is a country that once had one of the greatest judiciaries in the world. It now seems unbelievable that our judicial Benches were once graced by legendary figures, like J.I.C. Taylor, Louis Mbanefo, Joseph Adefarasin, Adetokunboh Ademola, Akinola Aguda, Anthony Aniagolu, Kayode Eso, Mohammed Bello, Chukwuweike Idigbe, Andrews Otutu Obaseki, Augustine Nnamani, Adolphos Karibi- Whyte and Chukwudifu Oputa.
“Between 1980 and 1990, we had an outstanding group of Jurists in the Supreme Court who created the golden age of the Judiciary. What has happened between that dreamlike era and now is a rapid descent into the world of mammon, where cash dictates justice.
With that degeneration of our judicial standards, our judicial ‘gods’ have descended from mount Olympus and joined the ranks of ordinary men and thus are suffering the fate of ordinary men.
The Justices of the golden age decided cases like Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu, Bello v. Attorney- General of Oyo State., Garba v. Attorney-General of the Federation, Obeya Memorial Hospital v. Attorney- General of the Federation, Wilson v. Attorney General of Bendel State – all of which were decisions against various Military Governments during the reign of the military.
Because of the superior moral authority of the Justices who presided over those cases, their fearsome reputation as men of steely integrity and honour, those judgments were obeyed without question. Even the military were afraid of these men of uncompromising integrity.
It was unthinkable that the DSS or its equivalent in the days could invite them for questioning, not to talk of searching and arrest. Their strong moral armour protected then against executive adventures and gave then real power over the other arms of government.”
Malami
The Justice Minister believes no one is above the law, saying that the judges were arrested on reasonable suspicion as no judge was above the law or had constitutional immunity from being arrested or investigated.
He said: “The fundamental consideration is whether there is an allegation of the commission of a crime; whether there is the need for investigation and whether the relevant provisions of the law and, indeed, all circumstances, as provided in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act are put into consideration in our conduct as regard the fight against corruption.
“The bottom line is that we have a responsibility to fight corruption. Corruption is a crime and nobody, regardless of how highly placed is exempted as far as issues that border on crimes and criminalities are concerned.
“The limited exceptions, as we know constitutionally, are the exceptions of immunity. And to the best of my knowledge, those exceptions do not apply to investigation. “For those that are conferred with the immunity, the right to investigate has not been taken away constitutionally.
“So, I think the framework and the circumstances within which we are operating are clearly whether there exists the right to investigate or not, and whether the action borders on criminality. “Once crimes and criminality are concerned, nobody is an exception. I think the undertone should be exclusively the consideration of the existence of a prima facie case; existence of reasonable grounds for suspicion of commission of a crime.
“And if there are, no member of the legislature, judiciary and executive can definitely be exempted from investigation. I think where we are now is the point of investigation and that is what is taking place.” But two of the Nigeria’s oldest Senior Advocates, Professor Ben Nwabueze and Chief Afe Babalola disagreed with Malami and Sagay.
Nwabueze
“Whilst judges are not granted immunity from criminal process, the vital and sacrosanct role of the judiciary in governance entitles them to great respect over and above that accorded to the ordinary citizens.
“To disgrace a judge, as by a degrading treatment, is not just the disgraceful treatment of an individual; it brings the entire judiciary, as the third organ of government, the Third Estate of the Realm, into disrepute and undermines its credibility in the eyes of the public. “It diminishes our country, and all of us.
The matter therefore counsels and demands cautious handling. “We are in a constitutional democracy, not a military dictatorship, and the law must be respected and obeyed in the way the affairs of the country are handled, including the handling of the fight against corruption which we all wholeheartedly support.”
Afe Babalola
“I am particularly saddened by the attack. How can they be treated like criminals? The fact that the DSS released the judges on the second day showed that they did not evade arrest, why should they then harassed and humiliated them in the first instance? “It is a trite law that process of the court can’t be served after 7pm.
Even if the DSS had the arrest warrant, they should not have gone on midnight raid of the houses of the judges. “The NJC has the power to promote, appoint and discipline judges, this was done to ensure independence of that arm.
So, I expect them to have approached the NJC. How can you arrest a sitting Supreme Court Justice and took him to magistrate court for trial? That could only be done after they have been removed.”
Dele Adesina
My position remains that it isn’t appropriate to generalise acquisition- which means it’s inappropriate to say that the Nigerian judiciary is entirely corrupt. This is simply because that statement leaves nobody as an exception, but rather points accusing fingers on the whole system. Hence, it forms a total write-off on the whole institution. However, those individuals who have been found culpable for attempting to tarnish the image of the institution should be eradicated.
This has always been my own strong position. I really don’t have any problem against the objective to which the DSS operated. The basic issue is that the government or authorities should have followed due procedure or the rule of Law, especially the constitutionally recognised procedure while going after the officials of the judiciary.
The Constitution has established a body known as the National Judicial Council (NJC), which is meant to convey all complaint, including criminal allegations. This body would sit on these complaints in their capacity as the regulatory body to discipline the judges.
And when that particular process of investigation is concluded, they dish out their sanctions; which can either be suspension or outright dismissal. Therefore, if it’s an outright dismissal on the basis of what has been done, they can also give a rider to that dismissal to hand the judge involved over to the police for prosecution.
This particular action was carried out recently by the NJC in respect to one of the judges in Kano State- Kabiru Auta. While three of the judges were been disciplined, the NJC specifically ordered that the former judge be handed over to the police because of the allegation of corruption probe leveled against him.
By the time a judge is disrobed, he/she becomes an ordinary citizen and can now face the full wrath of the law. However, the common grounds to the opinion of the leadership of the Bar is that, the leadership is not interested in covering up any culpable person, but rather, the ones found guilty should be subjected to the discipline established by the Law against judges and once that is achieved, have them transferred to the police. This makes it inherently difficult for them to lay claims of being a judge.
Therefore, when such process is duly followed, then sanitization of the process becomes more effective. This would eliminate the idea of assumption created by most individuals that the system is being intimidated or that the independence of the Judiciary is being flouted.
Ultimately, my emphasis here has its focal point on following the due processes written within the ambit of the Law, especially with the supremacy of the institution. It brings to bear that no one in the institution is above the law.
But if the Law has ascertained a procedure regarding the disciplinary actions on judges, then that procedure must be adhered to and never ignored. After the disciplinary action has taken place, if such a judge is found guilty, then he/she should be charged to court.
Lawal Pedro
In view of this situation, we must first recognise that all men and women are equal before the law. We should bear in mind that the judiciary is an institution that must be revered and respected by all for the benefit of the entire country.
This simply puts us in a severe position that we ought to carefully thread upon so that the hunter would someday not become the hunted. Invariably, the judiciary is one of the sections that hold the coercive power of the government. And if it is flouted or disregarded, how would the Nigerian citizen’s seek to obtain justice.
Paul Ananaba
My view is simple, judges can be arrested but not in the general manner in which criminals are cuffed. This is because they are referred to as “Honourable Judges”. When a particular judge is raided in such manner as done by the DSS, it does not only affect the image of the said judge but on the entire judiciary system.
The consequences of such an event would force both the Nigerian citizens and other international bodies to uphold the idea that the entire institution is corrupt. This is the major area I believe the DSS should have considered before embarking on the arrest.
Nobody is negating that an arrest cannot be done at midnight but it also connotes and creates an ugly insight that such judges might either be violent or even dangerous, especially in aspect of doors been broken and relatives incurring injuries on the process. It makes us think that they were resisting an arrest. So such operation gives a whole lot of negative impressions.
Chief Niyi Akintola
“The truth of the matter is that out there now, there are four sets of commentators over this issue. We have the ignorant, the emotional, the mischievous and the patriots. “The ignorant are dishing out falsehoods. They don’t know what they are talking about. “Let me talk about those set of commentators that are emotional.
These ones have already convicted the judges on the platform of public opinions. Their action had demoralized all other judges and lawyers across the country. The major challenge now is how to wake up these demoralized judges from the stupor. If this is not done, the resultant effects will be anarchy.
“The third set of commentators which is the mischievous group are the never-dowells in the legal profession who are envious of their colleagues at the Bar and on the Bench. They are the laid backs and they are not creative. They practice their law on the pages of newspapers and on the television.
They condemn everybody. To them, no one is good except themselves. “Then, the fourth category of commentators is the patriots who will subject issues to critical analysis. “The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is not saying that corrupt judges should not be prosecuted but what it is saying is that due process must be followed.
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