Former President Muhammadu Buhari once admitted that he viewed the Judiciary as a stumbling block to his determination to stamp out corruption. If he had his way, he would circumvent the rule of law and throw corrupt people into jail without trial.
Throughout his eight years in office, the President did little to hide his military and dictatorial tendencies. The expectation is that the adminitration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will show greater regard for the rule of law and human rights.
The Supreme Court did not sugarcoat the extent of former President Buhari’s disregard for the rule of law in the judgment on the naira crisis.
On March 3, the highest court slammed him for disobeying its earlier order that the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes should be allowed to circulate with the redesigned ones until the determination of the suit filed by some state governments on the matter.
A seven-man panel led by Justice John Okoro came hard on the former President. It slammed his broadcast of February 16, 2023, in which he said only the N200 note should remain a legal tender, despite an extant order.
Justice Agim stated: “Let me consider the issue of the President’s disobedience of the February 8, 2023 interim order that the new and old versions of naira notes continue to circulate as legal tender until the determination of the pending application for interlocutory injunction. It is not in dispute that the first defendant refused to obey the said order.
“The President’s national broadcast demonstrates this disobedience. In disobedience of the order, he directed that only the old N200 naira notes be re-circulated.
“Interestingly, there is nothing to show the implementation of even that directive.
“I agree with the ninth plaintiff (Lagos State) that the first defendant is not entitled to be heard by this court when he has refused to respect the authority of this court and the authority of law from which the authority of the President and the government of Nigeria derives.
“The rule of law upon which our democratic governance is founded becomes illusory if the President of the country or any authority or person refuses to obey the orders of courts.
“The disobedience of orders of courts by the President in a constitutional democracy as ours is a sign of the failure of the constitution and that democratic governance has become a mere pretension and is now replaced by autocracy or dictatorship.”
This is just one example of many acts of disregard for the rule of law by the former President. There are a few more instances.
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Raid on judges’ homes
In October 2016, the Department of State Services (DSS) raided the homes of justices and judges. The raids occurred at night on multiple residences in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe, Kano, Enugu and Sokoto.
The DSS claimed the aim was not to make arrests but to obtain evidence following suspicions of corruption.
Those whose homes were raided included Justices Adeniyi Ademola and Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja as well as Sylvester Ngwuta and John Okoro of the Supreme Court.
In Kano, the home of a High Court Judge, Justice Kabiru Auta, was raided along with another residence in Enugu belonging to the Chief Judge of the state, Justice A. I. Umezulike.
The residences of Justice Muazu Pindiga of Gombe Judiciary, as well as that of his counterpart from Sokoto, Justice Samia, were also raided.
The DSS claimed documents linking Justices Ngwuta or Okoro to estates worth over N1.5 billion were recovered.
At the residence of Justice Ademola, the DSS said it recovered $400,000 and N39 million in cash, in addition to documents of landed properties.
The agency said it believed Justice Mohammed Liman kept $2 million in his Port Harcourt residence.
None of the judges or justices was eventually convicted despite the widely-condemned Gestapo-style operations.
Some judges who were put on trial were eventually freed after the courts held that their trial was in disregard of the National Judicial Council (NJC) guidelines for disciplining judges.
The court held that no judge was to be put on trial until dealt with by the NJC.
Onnoghen’s controversial removal
Under former President Buhari, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) was humiliated out of office. His travails started barely six weeks before the February 23, 2019 general election. A group, Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI), accused him of corruption.
In its petition to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), ARDI had accused Onnoghen of false asset declaration.
Many observers, however, considered the move political given that the timing was close to the election and the fact that the petitioner skipped the NJC.
The Federal Government, acting through the Code of Conduct Bureau, filed a six-count charge against Justice Onnoghen.
After weeks of trial, the CCT on April 8, 2019, convicted him of breaching of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.
The chairman, Danladi Umar, ordered the immediate removal of Justice Onnoghen from office.
The tribunal also ordered the forfeiture of the funds in the five bank accounts which the defendant was said to have failed to declare as part of his assets in breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers. Justice Onnoghen appealed and challenged the CCT’s jurisdiction.
Although Onnoghen had been on suspension since January 25, 2019, former President Buhari later accepted Onnoghen’s voluntary resignation effective May 28, 2019.
The Court of Appeal later ruled that the CCT breached Onnoghen’s right to a fair hearing when it ordered his suspension based on the false asset declaration charges.
The court added that the order was not only made when Onnoghen had not been arraigned before the CCT but it was obtained in a manner “shrouded in secrecy”.
The appellate court also held that the CCT ought to have been bound by the various court orders from the National Industrial Court and the Federal High Court stopping the trial.
It faulted the tribunal for ignoring the orders.
Long detentions
The likes of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and former National Security Adviser Col Sambo Dasuki endured long detentions under former President Buhari despite various court orders that they be released.
Pardons
After long-drawn trials and convictions, the Council of State, led by former President Buhari on April 14, 2022, pardoned the former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Joshua Dariye and his Taraba counterpart, Jolly Nyame, who were both jailed for corruption. Their sentences were upheld on appeal. But the Presidency defended the pardon, saying it was on health grounds.
Outraged observers wondered why many other sick convicts have not been pardoned.
The implication of the pardon is even more far-reaching. Aside from the money sunk into the trials, which ended up a waste, there is more to worry about.
A member of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Etannibi Alemika, said the committee was unhappy with the pardon granted to the former governors.
“Everyone associated with anti-corruption was pained by the pardon granted to Dariye and the others,” he said.
To him, the convicts could have had their sentences commuted or reduced rather than an outright pardon.
The implication of the pardon, Alemika stressed, is that the former convicts could demand the return of assets confiscated from them.
The pardon also has the potential effect of wiping clean their acts of corruption – as if they were never convicted.
Underfunding of Judiciary
Arguably for the first time in Nigeria’s history, Supreme Court Justices openly protested the underfunding of the Judiciary and the neglect of their welfare.
In June last year, the justices vented their frustrations on the former CJN, Justice Ibrahim Muhammad, accusing him of inefficiency.
They referred to “the peak of the degeneration of the court”, “the height of decadence” and “clear evidence of the absence of probity and moral rectitude”.
The Justices said some of them who were sworn in two years earlier had no accommodation.
They described their vehicles as decrepit and overdue for replacement, while “some of the vehicles supplied to the justices are either refurbished or substandard”.
“We find it strange that despite the upward review of our budgetary allocation, the court cannot cater for our legitimate entitlements. This is unacceptable!” they wrote.
The Justices also lamented inadequate healthcare and a dearth of legal assistants, saying the Supreme Court’s staff clinic had become a “mere consulting clinic where drugs are not available to treat minor ailments.
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“There is a general lack of concern for Justices who require immediate or emergency medical intervention.”
Even power supply, they said, became erratic, as they were forced to work 8 a.m and 4 p.m daily ” for lack of diesel”, with those who had rulings and judgments unable to function.
Poor human rights record
Aside from persistent police brutality, which culminated in the #EndSARS protest, Nigeria was consistently rated poorly in human rights protection under former President Buhari.
Last year, Amnesty International said about Nigeria: “Thousands of civilians were killed, injured or displaced by the armed conflict between the armed groups Boko Haram and Islamic State’s West African Province (ISWAP) and the Nigerian military in north-eastern Nigeria. All parties to the conflict committed violations of international law, including war crimes, with impunity.
“Elsewhere, unlawful killings and violence were perpetrated by bandits and the authorities responded with enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detention, and severe restrictions to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.
“Media outlets and journalists had their freedom of expression curtailed by the authorities.
“Activists and protesters faced restrictions on their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
“More than 60,000 people were forcibly evicted from their homes. Failure to protect people from the effects of climate change led to deaths and displacement.”
AI added: “The state failed in its responsibility to protect people from various abuses committed by Boko Haram and ISWAP as well as unknown gunmen.”
Twitter ban
In what many saw as an assault on freedom of expression, former President Buhari banned Twitter after his tweet was flagged.
From June 5, 2021, to January 13, 2022, the Federal Government restricted it from operating in the country. The ban occurred after Twitter deleted tweets made by, and temporarily suspended, former President Buhari.
In the tweet, he warned the Southeast of a potential repeat of the 1967 civil war due to the killings in the region.
The Federal Government claimed that the deletion of the president’s tweets was not a key factor in its decision, but that the decision was ultimately based on “a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real-world violent consequences”.
It cited the persistent use of the platform for activities that were capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
Multiple disputes with states
The Federal Government under the former President disagreed with states on many issues.
For instance, former President Buhari on May 22, 2020, issued Executive Order 10 (EO10) meant “to enforce the implementation of the Fourth Alteration to the Constitution and provide a practical framework for the legislative and judicial arms of state governments to have financial autonomy.”
The EO10 empowered the Accountant General of the Federation to deduct from allocations due to a state from the Federation Account, any sums appropriated for the Legislature or Judiciary, which the state fails to release to the two arms of government.
The Fourth Alteration, which amended Section 121(3) of the Constitution, states: “Any amount standing credit of the (a) House of Assembly of the state, and (b) Judiciary, in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state, shall be paid directly to the said bodies respectively; in the case of the Judiciary, such amount shall be paid directly to the heads of the courts concerned.”
Prior to the amendment, Sections 81 and 121(3) of the Constitution provided autonomy for only the Judiciary.
Even though EO10 was hailed by many, governors kicked against it, arguing that it offended the principles of federalism.
They sued at the Supreme Court and sought to compel the Federal Government to undertake both recurrent and capital funding of all superior courts created under Section 6 of the Constitution and make a refund to states on what they had spent on such superior courts.
On February 11, 2022, the apex court held that President Buhari exceeded his constitutional powers in issuing the EO10. The Supreme Court declared it unlawful and unconstitutional.
Autonomy for the Judiciary
In what commentators see as a positive legacy for the Judiciary, the ex-President on March 17 assented to 16 of 35 constitutional amendment bills sent to him.
Amongst them was the bill guaranteeing financial autonomy to the Judiciary as enshrined in Section 121 (3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Whistleblowing
The whistleblowing policy was greeted with much optimism by Nigerians and it did not disappoint. For a while. The government raked in billions from confiscated funds found after tips by persons in the know,
However, a 2021 survey by the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) revealed that three of every four whistleblowers do not report cases of looted funds due to alleged nepotism in the administration, fear of victimisation and lack of knowledge on the kind of information and appropriate channel to report to.
The research, which sampled 7,000 respondents, was conducted in seven project location states while 21 key informants were sampled in five of the largest states.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) also revealed in January that 204 (representing 78.46 per cent of) ministries, departments and agencies (MDAS) do not have a whistle-blowing policy.
The ICPC in its Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard for 2022, also disclosed that 74 MDAS, representing 28.46 per cent, do not have redress officers and dedicated channels for corruption reportage.
AGF defends record
Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami (SAN) defended Buhari’s justice sector record.
He spoke on January 11 while presenting the Federal Ministry of Justice’s scorecard from 2015.
Malami said the government saved N1442billion and $507million from judgement liabilities, and profiled 3,000 terrorism cases, out of which 1,500 charges were filed and 397 convictions secured.
The AGF said the achievement was the function of a collaborative effort between his ministry and security and law enforcement agencies.
On the issue of revenue generation, the AGF said the Federal Government within the period generated N1,823,788,146.86 from the sale of forfeited properties.
He said the ministry, in compliance with presidential mandates and foreign judicial processes, also recovered £6,324,627.66, 5,494,743.71 Euros and $390,000,000 from various jurisdictions.
“Some of the recovered funds are being utilised in the financing of critical infrastructures including Abuja – Kano Expressway, Second Niger Bridge, and Lagos – Ibadan Expressway.
“Due to the concerted effort by my office in conjunction with relevant Stakeholders, including the Legislature, the President recently assented to the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022 (POCA) on 12th May 2022.
“I wish to state that POCA is the first legislation in Nigeria that comprehensively provides for mechanisms, processes and procedures for the tracing, restraint, seizure, confiscation, forfeiture and management of properties derived from unlawful activities.”
According to him, 648 cases which were instituted against President Buhari, the Federal Government and its agencies, before states, Federal and ECOWAS courts, are at different stages of trial.
“Diligent defences of these cases in the year 2022 alone saved the government from huge judgment debt liabilities to the tune of N142,458,343,888.52.
“We have also made appreciable progress in the actions being taken to challenge the arbitral award in the case of Process & Industrial Development. The hearing of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s application to set aside the arbitral award will commence before the English Court shortly.
“It is important to stress that the efforts by the ministry in defending these international cases have so far enabled Nigeria to avoid liabilities running into Billions of US Dollars.”
The AGF said his office on April 2018, secured presidential approval that directed the DSS to pay N135 million as compensation to the families of victims of the Apo Six killing by security agents, which occurred on September 20, 2013.
Apart from POCA, Malami also praised the Buhari administration for enacting several key anti-graft legislations.
He said: “We have also been able to enact the following anti-corruption and criminal justice laws:
• Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2017;
• Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit Act, 2018;
• Mutual Legal Assistance Act, 2018;
• Company and Allied Matters Act incorporating Beneficial Ownership, 2020;
• Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022
• Witness Protection and Management Act, 2022;
• Nigeria Open Government Partnership (OGP).
Experts speak
Despite his disregard for the rule of law and questionable human rights records, PACAC chairman Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) said former President Buhari’s anti-corruption record is unmatched.
To him, the closest any administration has come to fighting corruption was in 1984 under the Buhari military regime.
“The level of intervention in the fight against corruption is unprecedented. This government has broken new grounds and records in the fight against corruption.
“Since independence, no government has performed anywhere near this government in anti-corruption efforts.
“I’ve been around since the 60s, so I know. This needs to be acknowledged and appreciated,” Sagay said.
He said the former President institutionalised processes to facilitate transparency and accountability in the management of public funds.
Shittu’s assessments
Law teacher and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Wahab Shittu said the raid on judges’ home was not justifiable.
“The raid and invasion of the homes of judges of the superior courts stand to be condemned by all lovers of democracy.
“It is a violation of the principle of separation of powers and an attempt by the Executive branch of government to intimidate the Judiciary and undermine the rule of law. I condemn it in the strongest terms,” he said in hindsight.
On Onnoghen’s removal, Shittu said: “What is clear is that the removal of the then CJN was politically motivated.
“If someone is being accused of any offence, the right thing to do is to go through the appropriate channel which is the court to determine the guilt of the person. This was not done in this case.
“The government’s actions were unconstitutional and violated the rule of law. Onnoghen was removed from office without being given a fair hearing.
“This is clearly unconstitutional, a violation of the principles of natural justice and worst of all, a blow to the independence of the Judiciary.”
On alleged disobedience to court orders, the SAN said: “Court orders must be obeyed, and the government’s refusal to release the detainees was a clear demonstration of its disregard for the rule of law.
“I join my voice to that of the NBA in calling on the government to always respect court orders.”
On police brutality, Shittu said: “This can have a profound impact on individuals and communities, particularly those who are most vulnerable or marginalised. It can undermine trust in law enforcement, and lead to social unrest and protests. This culminated in the #EndSARS movement in 2020.
“Efforts to address police brutality have focused on a variety of strategies, including increasing police accountability and transparency, improving police training and community relations, and implementing reforms aimed at reducing the use of force and improving police oversight and discipline.
“I think the government has done commendably well in addressing police brutality since the protest in 2020. I encourage them to do more in order to eradicate the problem completely and promote greater respect for human rights and the rule of law.”
The law teacher and prosecutor also praised the former President for granting the Judiciary autonomy at the state level.
“However, what remains to be done is the implementation of these provisions as the Executive is required to desist from usurping the powers in the provisions of the Constitution.
“The practice of allocating funds to the Judiciary should be directly from the Federation Account through the NJC and finally, to the heads of the courts and not through the states’ ministries of finance which is the prevalent practice.
“The Executive should, therefore, not dictate the manner in which the Judiciary should be funded. It only behoves on the Executive to implement the provisions of the Constitution instead of acting ultra vires.”
‘Buhari’s record not encouraging’
A legal expert, Dr. Fassy Yusuf, believes the Judiciary has remained strong “notwithstanding the disposition of the Executive”.
He said: “There have been cases of human rights infractions under the outgoing administration. Overall, I think the Judiciary under the Buhari administration can be said to be a bit above average.
“The nocturnal invasion of the homes of judges by some overzealous security operatives was a bad omen and should be condemned by all.
“The government ought to know that the invasion of somebody’s home is a violation of his right to privacy, but the fact remains that they are agents of government and therefore, their performance, good or bad, should be seen as a reflection of the disposition of the government.”
On Onnoghen’s removal, Yusuf said: “This should be seen as an anomaly and it must not be allowed to occur again because if judges are removed unceremoniously, those left behind would have to look at their back before they can dispense justice without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.”
On #EndSARS, he said: “I would like to believe that all those involved, most especially the Police and the government, now know better.
“They should know that people are now more conscious of their rights, liberty and of the need for those saddled with responsibilities to perform such responsibilities with equanimity, forbearance, with human feeling and human face.”
Yusuf also welcomed the autonomy granted to the Judiciary, saying: “For the Judiciary to go cap in hand and be begging for a bailout would surely affect justice administration and an independent Judiciary is the hallmark of good governance.
“The Judiciary should be able to put the Executive and the Legislature in check. But, where it depends on the Executive and the Legislature to survive, definitely there must be something that is wrong with such an arrangement because such an arrangement will affect justice administration.”
Reviewing the state of the Judiciary in the last eight years, the lawyer said there is so much that needs to be done.
“The present operation environment of the Judiciary leaves much to be desired. The Judiciary is operating in a very terrible environment and I doubt if something could have been done to improve the situation.
“Judges still write in long hands, the equipment is archaic and is not in tandem with the technological age. While not totally condemning the performance, I believe that the score has not been too encouraging.
“The incoming administration should improve on areas where much has not been achieved and sustain and possibly enhance those areas that the outgoing administration had done well.
“By and large, we deserve a society, a society that is governed by the rule of law, by good governance, accountability and transparency,” Yusuf said.
