“Justice is rooted in confidence and confidence is destroy when right-thinking members of the public goes away with the thinking that the judge is biased”- Lord Denning
Morality and Legality are two sides of a coin. If one side of the coin is defaced, it ceases to be a legal tender. Morality and legality (constitutionalism) are both very essential for the smooth running of any society. A nation without morals is a soulless nation and constitutionalism can hardly thrive in such a society. In the struggle for power, all means- fair and foul are employed by the political leadership.
In view of the political persecution of the President of the Senate , Dr Bukola Saraki that is presently going on at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), those of us forecasting a brighter future for Nigeria under Buhari’s watch are now been forced to have a rethink. There is no country that can survive judicial recklessness, manipulation and corruption and Nigeria will never be an exception. We have seen in other climes how the judiciary saves many states from collapsing by upholding the sacred principle of check and balances as the famed last bastion of democracy and the hope of the common man for justice. It is said that the Court is the temple of justice. The ministers in this sacred temple are expected to live above suspicion. But here in Nigeria, our judiciary is gradually converting the temple of justice to an institution of horror and oppression of not only the lowly placed, but also the highly placed members of the society, including some of their “own”, the ruling elite. The credibility of a court and its rulings is a function of the integrity of the presiding judge.
In the words of Franz Kafka in the Trial; “Justice must stand still, or else the scales will waver and a just verdict will become impossible”. Justice can only stand still and the scales firm if judges are not bias in handling cases. How justice is dispensed will determine the level of confidence a litigant will have in the presiding judge in particular and the judiciary in general. It is one of the sad realities of our life in this country that our judiciary is riddled with corruption.
As far back as 1993, The Justice Kayode Esho Panel on Judiciary set up by General Sanni Abacha on 29th December 1993, indicted 47 judges in the country for corruption, incompetence, misuse of ex-part orders and abuse of office. Esho urged Abacha to act on the report if the Judiciary must be saved from shame and utter destruction. Abacha did nothing on the report until he died in office in 1998. Various administrations have failed to act on the report despite pressure from eminent Jurists. Corruption in the judiciary, if not curbed, may spell doom for our democracy and the country itself. The greatest impetus to the commission of crime is impunity. The foregoing explains why the problem of corruption in the Nigerian judiciary has become intractable. I have always believed and still do, that Nigeria is not yet a failed state and that Nigerian cup is only half full, rather than half empty. However, the unbecoming conducts of some judges which have totally eroded public confidence in Nigerian judiciary have shaken this belief to its very foundation. Not a few will agree with this writer that one of the strongest features of a failed state is a failed judiciary.
For rule of law to work, it must depend on men and women that are imbued with passion for integrity. Institutions of state are artificial entities. It is human beings that take decisions in their names. Corrupt individuals make a corrupt institution. Where the activities of such individuals go unchecked, the ability of democratic institutions that are designed to sustain the rule of law is impaired. It must be borne in mind that the bedrock of democracy is justice through the judiciary and that anything that erodes the fundamental principle of natural justice is injurious to the polity and the sustenance of democracy. For the love of filthy lucre, most of our judicial officers are yet to see themselves as manning a peculiar and most important arm of government.
The foregoing, probably, explains why Anthony Aniagolu, a retired justice of the Supreme Court admonished judges while celebrating his 85th birthday on 25th October, 2007. He declared: “Of all the professions, you are the one that most directly represents God on earth, because God is justice and so by delivering justice on people, you are sitting on His throne. For this reason, you will be judge harsher than any other profession. So you must be careful on how you deliver justice… Yours is the only profession directly created by God when He asked for twelve judges to be appointed for the twelve tribes of Israel. He did not ask for people in other professional callings like engineers, historians, philosophers or teachers to be appointed, but judges who will help Him administer justice on earth. You must deliver justice as if it were God himself that is sitting on the bench. Justice must be your focus and the rule of law must be your guide.
It is patently obvious that a judge like Danladi Umar is not aware of the sanctity of his chosen profession or he just decided to ignore it. It is common practice in all democracies for a judicial officer to withdraw from a matter if a litigant has no confidence in him to adjudicate on his case. That is the essence of fair hearing and faith in the judicial process. The reason adduced by Dr Bukola Saraki for losing faith in getting justice from Justice Danladi Umar’s court are incontrovertible and cannot be far-fetched: Section 3(d) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal act states that the Bureau shall refer any breach or non-compliance to the Tribunal. However, where the person concerned make a written admission of the breach, no reference to the Tribunal shall be necessary. It was on this basis that the celebrated case against Tinubu was dismissed in 2011 by this same judge in the same Tribunal on the grounds that he (Tinubu) was not given an opportunity to deny or admit any breach before he was brought before the Tribunal.
Justice Umar’s faux pas and unpardonable alibi (the statement credited to him: “I had judged in error in 2011 and I had since realized my mistake and I had since depart from it”) confirmed the worst fear of the generality of Nigerians that he was acting a script given to him by the powers that be.
What a bizarre and contradictory ruling that has attracted opprobrium to the entire Nigerian judiciary!
It is also public knowledge that a petition was written against Justice Danladi Umar that he collected bribe from one Rasheed Taiwo with sole aim of influencing his Tribunal’s judgement in his favour. It was alleged that there is a piece of evidence that the sum of N1.8m was paid into Danladi Umar’s PA’s account for this purpose. It is also public knowledge that he (Chairman, CCT) has been investigated and granted administrate bill by the EFCC over the aforementioned bribery allegation. Not a few took Justice Umar’s shameful admission that he discharged Tinubu in error with disdain.
Justice Umar erred in law when he refused to grant the request of the senate president to disqualify himself from his trial. We do fervently believe this illegal and immoral act which amount to a shameless grandstanding cannot stand the test of rigorous judicial scrutiny at the Appellate Court. In saner climes and in parts of the world where democratic principles have been deepened and institutionalized, any public official, let alone a judicial official would have resigned his position immediately he is tar with the brush of any misdemeanor.
I agree intoto with the retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Anthony Aniagolu that you can default in other arms of government, but not the judiciary where you are representing God on the bench. I also agree swith an excerpt from THISDAY EDITORIAL of Tuesday, October 27, which read, “We are not unmindful of the fact that due to its own contradictions, our judiciary does not seem capable of administering impartial justice and many people cannot be blamed for losing faith”.
It continued, “Yet under the rule of law it is the sacred duty of the judiciary to safe guard the rights and liberty of the citizens. Respecting such rights forms the bedrock upon which the society lays claim to civilization”. It is perfectly in order and it is the constitutional right of the senate president to file a notice of appeal against the patently contradictory, perverse and biased ruling of Justice Umar.
The pertinent question is: Is it permissible in law for a judge to approbate and reprobate? To state that this odious ruling has attracted opprobrium to the entire judiciary will merely be underscoring the obvious. It is capable of putting a permanent dent on the image of the Nigerian desecrated and dented judiciary. When judges exhibit unbridle bias, they demystify the rule of law. This should not be seen as a personal matter of Bukola Saraki. It is about the survival of the independence of the legislature and the judiciary and the principle of check and balances as espoused by Montesque.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed has proved to be competent, decisive, incorruptible and pragmatic in the way he has piloted the affairs of the judiciary so far. Nigerians are of the view that he will halt the slide and drift in the temple of justice and restore hope in the common man that justice will be done even if the skies fall. In order to redeem the battered image of the Nigerian judiciary and save Nigeria’s democracy and the country itself, my candid advice to the Appellate Court is to grant this appeal and disqualify Justice Umar from the trial of the senate president, Dr Bukola Saraki.
The letter of exoneration given to Justice Umar by the EFCC as a consequence of the motion filed by the counsel to the senate president asking him to disqualify himself from his trial due to the pending suit against him for collecting bribe in order to give a favourable judgement to a litigant in his court (Justice Umar has been recommended for prosecution by the Attorney-General of the Federation) is a mockery of the judicial process and is therefore null and void and of no effect. Until Justice Danladi Umar is discharged and acquitted by a court of competent jurisdiction or the Attorney General filed a nolle proseque, that is no case submission, he has no moral and legal right to preside over any court in Nigeria.
It is a trite law that he who goes to equity, must go with clean hands. It is horrendous, laughable, unthinkable, unacceptable and totally unjustifiable for the top echelon of the Nigerian Judiciary to allow a judicial officer who have been recommended for prosecution by the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to continue to preside over any court in Nigeria. This singular act has succeeded in making Nigeria a laughing stock among the comity of democratic and civilized nations.
The era of judicial manipulation, impunity and recklessness in this matter and others must be stopped.
Aminu is a former Media aide to Governors Gbenga Daniel and Rauf Aregbesola and National Coordinator, Oodua Youth for Good governance
E-mail: [email protected]
