Nigerian Judges, Corruption And Buhari's Search For 'Courageous Judges’

Buhari

I have tremendous respect for judges in general and Nigerian judges in particular.

I have very high regard for the legal profession, because as one who had been victim of discrimination in several ways than one, I appreciate the place of the law, lawyers and the judicial system in addressing injustice, human rights violations, discrimination and prejudices in our society.

I have since discovered that in our society we need a legal system that would serve everyone and not only the rich. That informed the reason why I enrolled as a law student with National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

 I am aware of the allegation that in Nigeria judgements are placed on shelves for the highest bidder. That is why injustice and corruption have enveloped the country. President Muhammadu Buhari is aware it. That is why the president said he is looking for courageous judges to help him prosecute the war on corruption.

The president should know better, because he has been one of their victims. Between 2003 and 2007, the president had cause to take his election grievances up to the Supreme Court in the aforementioned presidential elections where he was a candidate for different political parties. He once admitted that one of the judges who upheld the election of the presidential candidate of the PDP admitted to him that their hands were tied. The judges who voted against him were from the north, while the minority vote he got were judges from the south. The president recalled this incident during the election campaign to show that it is not true that he does not have support from the southern part of the country. This story underscores the enormity of corruption in the judiciary and why the war against corruption would end up as a mirage unless some judges elect to be 'courageous' and look at billions of naira in the face and turn their back on it.

Many Nigerians are aware of corruption cases involving former governors who left power since 2003 like Prince Abubakar Audu, former governor of Kogi State who was being prosecuted for corruption since then by the EFCC and the case is still on-going while the man may emerge as APC governorship candidate for the gubernatorial election later this year even as corruption allegation hangs on his neck. It is a reminder of how the judiciary has failed the country. Majority of the former governors who left office in 2007 are being prosecuted by EFCC but none of the cases are nearing conclusion because of alleged connivance between their lawyers (Senior Advocates of Nigeria) and some judges who admit frivolous adjournments just to ensure witness fatigue and miscarriage of justice.

Recently the national chairman of United Progressive Party (UPP) Chief Chekwas Okorie drew the attention of the president to the rot in the judiciary, saying that arm of government must be sanitised for the war against corruption to be won. Okorie may also be talking from experience. He founded All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and emerged its pioneer national chairman. He was pushed out of the party. For five years he battled the entrenched interests in the party up to the Supreme Court and lost.

However while it is a given that there is corruption in the judiciary as elsewhere in the country, there are still ‘courageous’ judges that can do the ‘needful’. But my worry is that we need to define ‘courage’ in the light of the president’s search of ‘courageous judges’. Does being courageous mean judges that would pass sentences in line with the mob mentality in the media, where everyone who served under President Jonathan is ‘guilty as charged’ until proven innocent? Or to be courageous mean the judges must read the body language of the president and his press statements and jail the alleged corrupt officials accordingly? What constitute courage in the judiciary?

As a student of law, my definition of courageous judge is the judge whose position in any breach of the law or constitution is guided by the rule of law; due process; the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and the statute books. He is not expected to be on the side of the government or the alleged corrupt official, but on the side of the law.