Chief Justice of Nigeria [CJN] Justice Walter Onnoghen read the riot act to judicial officers when he declared recently that the National Judicial Council [NJC] under his watch would tackle corruption head-on and weed questionable characters from the Bench. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Refresher Course for Judges and Kadis at the National Judicial Institute in Abuja on March 19, 2018 Onnoghen said, “A corrupt judge is not only a disgrace to the Bench and the noble profession but also a disaster to the cause of justice and the nation.”
Justice Onnoghen said corruption in the judiciary was not limited to bribe-taking but it includes the giving of judgments or orders based on considerations other than legal merit.The CJN couldn’t have been more right in his estimation of the situation. His remarks supported President Muhammadu Buhari’s repeated accusations that the judiciary was not assisting the fight against corruption. Counter judgments delivered by judges over one and same case has, in the recent past, painted the judiciary in bad light.
Many judges have, through unnecessary adjournments, failed in their duties by refusing to deliver judgment on high profile corruption cases. Instead, they find it easy to simply and quickly convict suspects in cases involving stealing of goats or bags of rice. Nigerian judiciary got further bashing some years ago when suspects discharged and acquitted over corruption cases in Nigeria were convicted on the same charges abroad. Besides Justice Onnoghen’s remarks, it is unfortunate that the NJC has appeared to Nigerians to be shielding judges suspected of bad behaviour. While we do not expect NJC to punish any judge against whom there is no compelling evidence, it should clean up its act and move faster to entertain legitimate complaints against judges.
The CJN re-assured Nigerians that the Corruption and Financial Crimes Cases Trial Monitoring Committee, COTRIMO, set up by NJC would serve to check the excesses of bad eggs in the judiciary. According to him, the designation of Special Courts to handle corruption cases was to ensure that lingering cases of corruption are expediently dispensed with. While Nigerians applaud NJC for establishing COTRIMO as well as the designation of Special Courts to try corruption cases, there is public dissatisfaction that in spite of these impressive mechanisms, no accused person standing trial in high profile corruption cases has been convicted since Onnonghen became CJN.
Indeed, most of the corruption and financial crime cases being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) remain pending in different courts across the country. Unless the trial of these cases is fast-tracked by the Special Courts and suspects found guilty are sentenced accordingly, the creation of COTRIMO and Special Courts would be seen to have made no difference. Justice Onnoghen’s assertion that “only few judges are found wanting” contradicts wide-spread public perception of the entire justice system in Nigeria.
The decay in the judiciary was recently re-echoed by a former CJN, Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar when she lamented the rising culture of lobbying, favouritism and godfatherism. She said this bad culture leads to a fall in standards and weakens the judiciary because it allows for incompetent personnel to be appointed. Justice Mukhtar who spoke in Abuja at a book presentation in honour of retired Supreme Court Justice Clara Ogunbiyi, said merit must be the watchword in the appointment of judges. It was apt that the CJN acknowledged Justice Aloma’s lamentation when he said in his riot act speech that “NJC would ensure through rigorous screening and painstaking appointment procedures that only the best materials in terms of character and learning get appointed to the Bench.”
Beyond lamentations, the CJN should take practical measures to ensure that bad eggs among the judges are shown the way out of the system. The judiciary is the last hope of the common man. The CJN must therefore carry out necessary reforms to ensure that Nigerians have access to quality justice at affordable cost and within a reasonable time
