The degrading of the Nigerian judiciary in whatever manner should ordinarily be of concern to all. But comments of the type Buhari made in Ethiopia should prick the heart of the bench in an exceptional way; particularly that section of it governed by good conscience, moral uprightness and principle. By its conservative nature, the bench is not traditionally given to media hypes, whether for good or for bad; except through its key heads.
The other group that should naturally be agitated, or better still, sobered down by President Buhari’s scarcely flattering view of the Nigerian judiciary, if hypocrisy is not permitted to prevail, is the bar (the legal profession), whose bad eggs are the major accomplices in the drift and ruin of the Nigerian judiciary. It is not for the fun of it that critics lump the bench and the bar together as one when they appraise the ongoing anti-graft campaign of the Federal Government these days.
Some Nigerians based in the United Kingdom, under the umbrella of ‘2015 Group’, for example, while declaring support for the anti-corruption drive, lately, made reference to the noxious romance existing between perverts in the Nigerian bench and their dishonest colleagues in the bar in bending, if not breaking the spinal cord of justice in the land. The group said: “We recall that the rule of law implies the inalienable condition that the judiciary must be fit for purpose… The zeal (with which) the majority of Nigerian judges, aided by disreputable lawyers have been bending justice, leads us now to call for the immediate and fundamental reform of the Nigerian judiciary. We are disturbed that judges, who granted frivolous injunctions, allowed unmeritorious appeals and simply gave official thieves mere slap on their wrists are allowed to keep their share of the loot orchestrated by thieving. It is our solemn belief that unless the Nigerian judiciary is reformed, the fight against corruption would be hard to be successfully prosecuted”. President Buhari, speaking late December last year through Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the flagging-off of the 2015 All Nigeria Judges’ Conference in Abuja, did say he was perturbed that more than ever before, allegations of judicial corruption had become more strident and frequent in the country. The Nigerian justice system, according to him, had a notorious reputation for delays, “usually occasioned by a combination of endless adjournments, incessant interlocutory applications and overwhelming caseloads… As my lords are undoubtedly aware, corruption transfers from public coffers to private pockets resources required to deliver social and economic justice. Government’s attempts to recover such assets in accordance with the law are often faced with dilatory tactics by lawyers, sometimes with the apparent collusion of judges”.
Former head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri, lamented in 2009 how some senior lawyers were frustrating the fight against corruption by stalling the prosecution of their corrupt clients docked by the commission. Such lawyers, she alleged, fraudulently obtained money from their clients under the guise of delivering same as bribe to officers of the EFCC to kill cases under investigation. Waziri said the lawyers also exploited the weaknesses of the judiciary by filing frivolous applications to frustrate the trial of suspects facing corruption trial. Her successor, Ibrahim Lamorde, later corroborated much of what Waziri said.
While commenting on recent baffling rulings of the Supreme Court on election petitions, especially those of Rivers and Akwa Ibom States, Prof Itse Sagay, who heads the Presidential Anti-Corruption Committee, did say: “There are some senior lawyers who have totally departed from anything that the calling of the law profession requires. They have thrown in their lot with the looters and have become, I won’t call them fellow looters, but definitely, they have started enjoying and sharing in the proceeds of crimes of these looters; and because of that, they are absolutely now against the anti-corruption law. There is need to have these Senior Advocates thoroughly disciplined; and if they would not accept discipline, they need to be removed from the profession before they bring more disgrace to the profession; and at the same time, drag this country down economically”.
No less sickened by the conduct of such dishohourable lawyers is the Acting Chairman EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, undoubtedly the most outspoken head of that outfit as yet, who says senior lawyers are benefitting from stolen money and are truly the fellows that do not want justice for the common man. Magu alleges that prominent members of the bar accept clearly tainted briefs and are “vandals of the temple of justice”.
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