That the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is confronted with a Herculean task is no longer news. What is news is that Buhari, the self-proclaimed crusader, has pledged to tackle, head on, the quantum beast of corruption that runs free in the country. Already, there are indications that the new president is sincere and determined to take a swing at the beast. However, if he must succeed, the judiciary should be a good starting point.
The judiciary is not a branch of the executive or the legislature; it is a distinct arm of government with, perhaps, the greatest responsibility in the coming months and years, if the ongoing fight against corruption must be won. We must not underestimate the importance of the judiciary in ridding the country of its dirty image. This is why the present administration can contribute to seeing that a truly independent judiciary is realised in the country and avoid the mistakes of past administrations.
It is sad to note that the noble profession has not been immune to the scourge of corruption and our lawyers and judges have been complicit. But with the coming of Yemi Osinbajo, a Professor, former Attorney-General of Lagos State and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, as the Vice-president, there seems to be a ray of hope. The time could not be better for a real overhauling of the justice system to ensure that it is equipped to carry out its duties as freely, fairly and promptly as the present situation of the country demands. Surely, the country needs to make up for lost time in the prolonged fight against corruption which has been ongoing with multiple anti-corruption agencies, schemes and master plans that come to nought before the muddied waters of the judiciary.
Over the years, judges and lawyers have been in cahoot with corrupt government officials and private individuals with deep pockets and their complicity has defaced the justice system. However, recent happenings in the judiciary seem to show a changing course within the judiciary. First, was the appointment of Justice Aloma Mukhtar as the Chief Justice of Nigeria in July 2012. Her tenure witnessed a toughening of the judiciary, with many disciplinary proceedings against lawyers, high and low, taking a new and determined shape. Under her leadership, the judiciary was determined to launder the image of the justice system, but this image laundry has yet to resonate in the lower ranks of high court judges and unfortunately, the bar itself.
The case of a former state governor who was fraudulently absolved of all the cases of embezzlement, money laundering and other acts of financial impropriety brought against him in Nigeria before he was finally tried and jailed in Britain is still very fresh in living memory. Mention must also be made of the celebrated “Police Pension Funds. Scam’ involving N32.8 billion purportedly diverted by some top civil servants. One of them who was involved in defrauding the Pension Fund of N27.2 billion and pocketing N2 billion of the amount, was handed a jail term of two years with an option of N750,000 fine! This was clearly a signpost of the endemic corruption and rot in the country’s judiciary.
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‘In changing the direction of the country as it is now, every institution, agency and arm has roles to play and the judiciary should be readied to handle the windfall of prosecutions that will inevitably emanate from the current shakedown by the government’
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If the judiciary must live up to its responsibility of dispensing justice without fear or favour, then the status of courts and judges needs to be upgraded in terms of physical security around the courtrooms. Not once have we had news of thugs-for-hire overrunning court premises even while court sessions are ongoing. Bayelsa, Ekiti and Rivers are some of such states where the sanctity of the courtroom has been so derided by mischievous people who probably had a stake in whatever proceedings were being conducted at the courtrooms. The gripping thing is the ease and frequency of such happenings, an episode of which has also been recorded at the Apo High Court premises in Abuja in the past. The courts are manned by little-trained security personnel and the security measures in most courts leaves judges, litigants and lawyers as sitting ducks for intending troublemakers.
The problems go beyond infrastructure and security. The judicial workers are mostly underpaid and lack basic training in most cases. In the mix of corrupt judges, lack of infrastructure, disenchanted judicial workers, political meddling and low standard of ethics at the bar, justice is continually held to ransom. In some of the impeachment dramas that played out of some states, for instance, judges played a shameful role at times as political stooges rather than the custodians of the law that they are. Similarly, lawyers engage in practices that abuse the law in order to satisfy the demands of clients that have no regard for the law. It has been said that the many strikes by judicial workers, although sometimes occasioned by legitimate grievances of the workers, are in a few cases, carefully orchestrated by deep pockets with vested interests in ongoing proceedings who want them stalled until any outcomes are inconsequential.
The level of outside influence on the justice system is frightening in an otherwise independent judiciary. The search for solutions has led to the birth of views that attack the centrality of judicial power in the country. Many have criticised the power of the National Judicial Council on state judicial affairs and have gone as far as advocating the decentralisation of the judiciary with states having their own Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal not tied to the center. This is the practice in the United States. The states already have considerable power over the state judiciary but the influence of the center cannot be ignored. Other solutions have involved better pay for judges, better infrastructure and financial autonomy for the judiciary.
While all of the suggested measures may be good steps towards achieving the goals of an impermeable judiciary, the essential work of cleaning up the justice system lies in a re-orientation of all members of the judiciary and consequently, all who turn to justice to right wrongs. We all have to put the courts in the exalted position where they ought to be, which may have to start with physical reinforcement in the case of Nigeria. All who turn to the courts have to feel the reverence for the courts that they feel for the government house and the legislature. Even more so. The Nigerian Bar Association also needs to ensure that ethics are taken very seriously to boost public confidence in the process of justice as a whole. Most importantly, all semblances of camaraderie between politicians and judges ought to cease, to dispel even the faintest hint of political influence on judicial outcomes. In the appointment of the Chief Judges of states, the most senior judges at any time can easily ease into the role or a form of secret ballot by all sitting judges should suffice. This will need constitutional changes, but these are the things the present administration should push for.
It is not enough to go after offenders and obtain convictions. The focus should be on finding a system that works in favour of transparency and minimal influence. Under any system, wrongdoers will find a way to do wrong but the opportunities for going against carefully conceived practice should be scarce as a deterrent to the morally challenged. This fight is not a Buhari fight as we must now know, the Judiciary should lead the charge and the effects will easily spread to other arms and to the populace. In changing the direction of the country as it is now, every institution, agency and arm has roles to play and the judiciary should be readied to handle the windfall of prosecutions that will inevitably emanate from the current shakedown by the government.
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