Against the background that all manner of frivolous suits are being filed by politicians and their agents in the bid to either stop or scuttle the general elections scheduled to begin soon, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Mr. Mahmud Mohammed last week handed down a stern warning to judges and judicial officers across the country. “Let me use this opportunity to sound a note of warning to all judicial officers. Do not allow any political party or politician to compromise your integrity or your future. We must never again be used as tools to truncate our nation’s democracy”, said Justice Mohammed, in apparent reference to the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election fiasco that started with the midnight judgment of the late Justice Bassey Ikpeme.
Speaking while swearing in the 242 judges appointed to the tribunals that will sit on petitions arising from the coming general elections, Justice Mohammed added that “any judge found wanting would only have himself or herself to blame as the National Judicial Council will definitely not spare the rod in ensuring that the honour, respect and independence of the Judiciary is protected.”
Like the CJN has pointed out, the judiciary should be insulated from partisan politics and must guard its independence and impartiality jealously. And the only way to do that is if our judges imbibe the virtue of living above board, especially at such a delicate time as this.
As we have repeatedly re-echoed in our previous editorials, the function of law as instrument of social engineering is made difficult in Nigeria by the corruption of judges. Therefore, the admonition by the CJN that those who man the temple of justice should desist from anything which robs the institution of its impartiality, fairness and independence, is very timely.
We must recall that the dirty details that came out in the course of the dispute between a former Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu and then suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, helped in no small measure to cast serious doubts about the integrity of many of our judges. Yet the conduct of a judge should be free from the appearance of impropriety while also expecting that their personal behaviour, not only in the discharge of their official responsibility but also in their daily life, would be beyond reproach.
However, apart from judges, our judicial personnel–court bailiffs, court clerks and registrars, court messengers, court typists, etc., who equally play very important roles in the dispensation of justice should also try to live above board. Our court personnel, many of whom are no better than touts and pimps, should stop ruining a litigant’s case even before it eventually gets to the judge. Oftentimes some court bailiffs refuse to effect a court process simply because they were unable to extort money from a litigant or his counsel. It is common knowledge that many litigants get to court only to discover to their chagrin that their case files have either been misplaced or are completely lost due essentially to the corruption of court staff.
These are administrative injustices which ultimately beget legal injustice or even social injustice. Therefore, we urge the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to as well focus its searchlight on corrupt court personnel. Court registrars who extort money from litigants and lawyers should be exposed and brought to justice. All court staffers extorting money from litigants before rendering them administrative services due to them should be brought to justice as well. Lawyers should also stop bribing court personnel or acceding to their extortionist bids. In this election season, it is our hope that both the bar and the bench in Nigeria will, by their conduct before, during and after the ballots are cast, help to strengthen rather than weaken our democracy.
