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Judges’ arrest: Buhari, DSS, AGF sued for N50b

President Muhammadu Buhari; Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami (SAN); and three others have been sued at the Federal High Court in Abuja for the arrest of some judges by the Department of State Services (DSS).

The suit, which also has the Director General of the DSS, Lawal Daura; Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris; and National Security Adviser (NJC) as respondents, seeks, among others, N50 billion as compensation for the alleged violation of the judges’ rights.

The plaintiff, Olukoya Ogungbeje, alleged that the arrest of the judges without recourse to the NJC was unlawful and amounted to humiliating them.

Ogungbe, who sued on behalf of five of the judges, who are still in service, said the DSS operations violated the rights of judges under sections 33, 34, 35, 36, and 41 of the Constitution.

The judges are Sylvester Ngwuta, John Okoro, Adeniyi Ademola, Muazu Pindiga and Nnamdi Dimgba.

The plaintif is seeking 10 reliefs, including N50 billion against the defendants as “general and exemplary damages” and N2 million as cost of the suit.

Ogungbeje also wants an order compelling the DSS to return to the judges the money recovered from them.

He also seeks perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from arresting, inviting, intimidating, or harassing the judges with respect to the case.

The plaintiff is, among others, contending that the raid on the homes of the judges and their arrest was unconstitutional.

In a supporting affidavit, the plaintiff stated: “That there is no petition by the first (President Buhari), second (DG of DSS), third (DSS), fourth (AGF), and fifth (Inspector-General of Police) respondents to the sixth respondent (NJC).

“That the sixth respondent is the only body empowered by the Constitution to discipline judges and judicial officers in Nigeria.

“That the judiciary is an independent arm of government in Nigeria and separate from the executive and the legislature.

“That this illegal and unconstitutional action by the first, second, third, fourth and fifth respondents have been roundly condemned by the Nigeria Bar Association.”

October 17, 2016
DSS raids and the judges
It took more than five days for the National Judicial Council (NJC) to react fully to the unprecedented attacks against its integrity and independence. The Department of State Service (DSS) had between October 7 and 8 raided the residences of seven judges, among whom were two Justices of the Supreme Court, Nigeria’s highest court. The raids, according to the secret service, yielded large sums of money alleged to be proceeds of corruption. But more than just money and other evidence of corruption, the raids also yielded controversies over due process, rule of law, constitutional powers and accusations that the DSS acted mala fide.
It is a reflection of the sterility of public debate and discourse in Nigeria that the affair has polarised the country along those who stoically take exception to the manner (time and style) the judges were taken from their homes, and those who intemperately argue that neither the law nor the exalted positions of the judges precluded the DSS from acting against the judges the way they did. The inclusion of the two Supreme Court justices was probably the game changer, finally signalling, it is argued, the seriousness of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-graft war, and apparently that no one is immune.
Various sums of money were allegedly found in the homes of the judges, while the DSS also claims to be in possession of very damning electronic evidence against some of them. And just in case anyone doubted by what authority the DSS acted, spokesmen of both the government and the DSS have argued that their actions were guided by faithful application of the law. Notwithstanding, views have become polarised among legal experts and other sundry commentators, with the balance of argument appearing to favour the DSS until the NJC gave its own side of the story in which it accused the DSS of violating the law and withholding information. (So, who has the better appreciation and interpretation of the law: government agents or the highest judicial body in the country?) And though the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 has updated the law on arrest of suspects and search of their premises, it is debatable whether a state like Rivers, which has yet to domesticate the law, could still not operate under the old law that circumscribes the time and how suspects might be searched or seized.
But rather than get bogged down with the legality or otherwise of arresting judges without the involvement of the NJC in the manner the DSS did, or get tangled in a skein of comparisons with other countries which recently punished their errant judges — as if external justifications were needed for the DSS action — there are a few salient issues calling for closer scrutiny. One of those issues borders on the fear that the DSS raid, which obviously got the blessing of the presidency and seemed largely contrived and riddled with ulterior motives, could in fact be the harbinger of sweeping autocracy in Nigeria, considering that the agency itself and its boss had spoken and acted often gleefully dictatorially. Two reasons account for this fear. First, once the government saw that public support for the DSS action outweighed opposition, it began to speak more confidently — indeed almost ordering the NJC — demanding that the NJC should quickly suspend the arrested judges in order to enable prosecution. It is believed that the government plans the arrest of more judges and court workers thereby engendering a climate of fear and apprehension in the judiciary, a climate the justices fear is designed to destroy the doctrine of the separation of powers, castrate the judiciary, and co-opt it as an appendage of the executive arm.
Second, those who entertain the fear of creeping dictatorship recall that barely a few months after assuming office, President Buhari announced in one of his foreign trips that as far as his anti-graft war was concerned, his main headache was the judiciary. He had not yet conducted a study of the criminal justice system to find out why it failed to function the way it was designed, and which organ in the long chain constituted the weakest link. Nor had he taken a look at how the system was funded or administered, and what reforms could facilitate its operations, speed up the anti-graft war, and produce timely dispensation of justice. To these critics, the president appeared simply to have concluded that the judiciary was hopeless if it could not do the extraordinary and even extra-legal tasks he envisioned for it.
While the president’s utterances and body language indicate his continuing discomfort with the discipline and strictures democracy and its fundamentals impose on leaders, most Nigerians have simply focused on the widely held impressions of the rot in the judiciary, the commercialisation of justice, and the anomalies and dislocations these judicial vices inflict on the polity as sufficient extenuation for the government’s dire action. What matters, they say, is that the society, and in this case, the judiciary, be cleansed of its rot. But that precisely is the problem. Corruption in Nigeria, and perhaps everywhere, is a systemic thing. It would be too optimistic to expect that daring raids now and again, and high-profile prosecutions here and there can halt Nigeria’s drift towards ethical collapse. The president does not have a structured or scientific plan to battle corruption. He relies on gut feelings and the umbrage he often takes over challenges to his person and ideas; even as his iconoclasm leads him to revel in showy measures that humiliate those who draw his ire. And because he has had a long-running battle with the top echelon of the judiciary, the public embarrassment he permitted against the NJC is nothing more than a fitting culmination of his angst. But until that structured approach is developed and adopted, the anti-graft war will remain a desultory and episodic bout of ghoulish delight.
The president has his faults, and his methods are misplaced and ultimately ineffective. In fact, the Buhari presidency sometimes gives the distinct impression it teeters dangerously on the brink of campaigning for and encouraging mass action against the judiciary. However, these do not detract from the fact that the rot in the judiciary is offensively evident, even if the DSS, for incomprehensible reasons, failed to make them available to the NJC. That rot has been long in developing, as the Justice Kayode Esho report, which found 47 judges culpable, indicates. Eventually, only six were sacked because there was wide-ranging conspiracy to sabotage the report. It is therefore naive to argue as some do that if the cancer is not tackled the way the

DSS openly and embarrassingly undertook a few days ago, the rot could worsen.

The rot already exists at all levels of the judiciary and every part of the larger society and is a product of a failing system that needs a bold and intelligent visionary to comprehensively restructure from its very foundations. That restructuring will not happen under President Buhari, for he is reluctant to summon the wherewithal to engage what needs to be done. He is satisfied with and entertained by the unquestioning support and adulation of those who see virtue in his dilatory and ad hoc approach to a very serious, long-standing problem. Nevertheless, the DSS raid could in a limited way help produce a judiciary of fair quality and integrity capable of checkmating both the disguised authoritarian streak of President Buhari and the sanctimonious penchant of the DSS for sniffing at public ethos and equating dissent with national security threat.

Sadly, the rot in the judiciary, which cannot be extricated from the national malaise, is a product of the country’s unworkable structure, administrative laxity and leadership incompetence, all of which have been sustained by past leaders over the decades. It is also more critically a function of the decline in the quality of the minds, persons and character of those saddled with key leadership responsibilities in the society. In fact, some decades ago, a judge wrote a book suggesting that the glory of the judiciary had departed. To understand how deep and total the problem is, examine for instance the president’s appointments, including his kitchen cabinet and security chiefs. Did he recognise the value of running an inclusive government, one manned by experts from all backgrounds who can help him see the many sides of an argument? Or does he imagine he already knows where the problems are located and what tools he would need? In the same way, how are judges elevated from the magistracy, and then to the Appeal Court, and on, more gravely, to the Supreme Court?

What the DSS arrests of October 7 and 8 imply is that the wrong jurists have been elevated to high positions by a crooked system that employs rigged criteria. As the president has demonstrated by his own dismal and unrepresentative appointments to key government positions, governors and judicial authorities are also staffing the hallowed chambers of justice with men and women of poor learning and indefensible character, men and women who are not inspired by great local and international jurists and difficult, complex cases of jurisprudence, individuals who despite their supposed education, have been unable to appreciate the rubrics and spiritual content of justice. It is almost as if Nigeria has never produced world-famous jurists of impeccable character and learning. So, really, how does Nigeria appoint, elevate and treat its judges, such that the judiciary has found itself in this terrible and terrifying mess? Is it not time to rework the principles and standards that undergird appointments to judicial positions?

By all means then, let the Buhari presidency summon the boldness to fight corruption. But let it also find the brilliance and scientific approach to combat the problem in a politically unifying and sustainable manner. It is true the problem is gargantuan, especially in the highly sensitive judiciary, but by his methods, style, and suspect democratic credentials, not to say his restrictive arguments and improperly borrowed and poorly adapted examples from Ghana and elsewhere, he is dividing the country the more. Until the president develops a comprehensive and holistic plan to fight corruption, piecemeal interventions such as raids anchored by state agencies displaying contempt for democracy and the rule of law will eventually doom the system. The NJC may also be tempted to fight stubbornly for the independence of the judiciary, but the eminent jurists cannot pretend not to appreciate that they have done little over time to arrest the drift to the precipice. It is partly in response to the NJC’s lethargy that the DSS took the extraordinary but misguided step of arresting seven judges, and the EFCC has announced plans to indict eight more — almost as if the executive arm is laying siege to the judicial arm.
- By Idowu Akinlotan
October 16, 2016
Senate and arrest of judges

WHEN on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 the senator representing Gombe South Senatorial District, Joshua Moltobok Lidani, presented his motion on the celebrated invasion of the private homes of top judicial officers by operatives of the Department of State Security, many Senate watchers were taken aback.

Those who expressed surprise did not do so because the issues raised in the motion were not important. No, far from it. It would have been a gross dereliction of duty if the upper legislative chamber of the land failed to say a word or two about a matter that is bound to have a remarkable effect on the country.

Senator Lidani’s weighty motion jolted many because it was seen to have come from unexpected quarter. Senator Lidani, for all intents and purposes, is usually on the quiet side, a ranking senator considered a pro-establishment lawmaker. He is not known to be one of those ready to go for a dip in troubled waters.

Although feelers later came that the controversial motion may have been “a leadership” motion, some observers have not ceased to ponder why the lot fell on the Gombe South lawmaker to promote it.

Lidani however acquitted himself creditably in his presentation. His intervention and choice of words may have been a product of frustration and anger over the state of affairs in the country. It may have been borne out of the fear that the country is degenerating and drifting dangerously.

No doubt, the effect of the invasion of the homes of the judicial officers will continue to reverberate within and outside the country.

What gave credence to the notion that the leadership of the Senate may have been behind the motion was a statement by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi.

Abdullahi said issues surrounding the raid, arrest and detention of some judicial officers were exhaustively deliberated at a closed session of the upper chamber on Tuesday.

At the end of the Executive Session, the Niger North lawmaker said Senate resolved to ask the DSS and other anti-corruption bodies to always comply with the provisions of the law in the exercise of their duties.

He said that Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters was also mandated to urgently review all laws regulating the conduct and operations of all security agencies.

Perhaps, Abdullahi’s statement was meant for emphasis, just in case Lidani’s motion failed to fly.

There is no doubt that some people are already anxiously waiting to see the affected judicial officers arraigned “in shame.”

The risk however is, if the allegation of misconduct is resolved in favour of the judicial officers, what follows? Can the affected judges still go back to their seats to continue to preside and adjudicate? The likelihood of moral crisis taking a better side of the affected judicial officers may not be farfetched.

Lidani in his lead debate urged the Senate to note with dismay and disapproval “the recent criminal invasion, assault, intimidation, indiscriminate arrest and harassment of serving judicial officers by the operatives of Directorate of State Security Services in a widely reported national operation.”

The Gombe South lawmaker said he is aware that the DSS in a press briefing held on Saturday 8th October claimed that the affected judicial officers were arrested based on allegations of corruption and other conventional misconduct.

He said the matters raised by the DSS are under the constitutional responsibility of the National Judicial Council as set out in paragraph 1, part 1 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Lidani also said he is aware that “it is on record that the NJC, under the leadership of his lordship, Hon. Mamud Mohammed, (CJN, GCON), has been creditably discharging his constitutional responsibility of exercising disciplinary control over judicial officers as a result of which a number of judicial officers found wanting in the discharge of their duties were recommended for various disciplinary measures, including dismissal.

He observed that the DSS has abandoned its primary responsibility of prevention, detection of crimes against internal security as stipulated under the National Security Agencies Act and “veered into arbitrary arrest of judges contrary to processes and procedures on discipline of judicial officers as applied under paragraph 1, part 1, third schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

He prayed the Senate to condemn the action of the DSS in its totality. The prayer was unanimously adopted.

Curiously, the lawmakers declined to support the proposal to invite the Director General of DSS, Lawal Daura, to explain why he ordered the invasion of the homes of the judicial officers.

Before it was rejected, Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki, put the proposal to question three times.

Although no reason was given for the rejection of the invitation proposal, those who backed it said the invitation would have been an opportunity for the Senate to hear first hand from DSS DG about the clampdown on judicial officers.

The meeting, they added, should have afforded senators the chance to under-study the body language, as well as read the lips of the secret police boss. It was clear that the opportunity was lost on the altar of ethnic politics.

Many senators did not want to contribute to the motion apparently for fear of backlash from the bulldozing DSS. For them, the fear of DSS should be the beginning of wisdom.

Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who spoke cautiously, captured the mood in the chamber while the debate was going on.

Akpabio said some senators, for fear of the “unknown,” hurriedly escaped through the backdoor. The former Akwa Ibom governor observed that while some of those who left the chamber claimed to have gone to urinate, others hid under the guise of going to the toilet to leave the chamber.

He regretted that all former governors have been branded thieves in the guise of fighting corruption. For him, it has become high risk to be a former governor. Such toga, he warned, “must not be extended to the judiciary,” he said.

Senator Chukwuka Utazi (Enugu North), in his contribution said the invasion of the judges’ homes has painted Nigeria before the international community as a country that does not respect the rule of law.

Utazi said: “This last weekend was the most difficult the country has had. My spirit is very hurt. I can feel the pulse of Nigerians over what has happened. I do not know how the international community will see us after this. It appears the DSS is following the body language of the President of this country rather than follow the rule of law,” he said.

The position of the Senate on the burning issue notwithstanding, nobody is above the law. However, that does not detract from the fact that the DSS operation could not have been done decently.

October 16, 2016
Arrest of judges

•Further evidence of government’s determination to sanitise society?

The arrest of two eminent jurists, Justices of the Supreme Court – Sylvester Ngwuta and John Okoro – and four other judges last week by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) has caused loud acclaim and denunciation among Nigerians. Those who have spoken on the matter include eminent jurists, lawyers, civil society activists and other concerned Nigerians. It is hard to find a Nigerian indifferent to the development.

In view of the stature of those arrested and the deep implications of the action, we are constrained to join the debate. We find quite untenable the position that arresting judges amounts to a slide to dictatorship. It is equally difficult for us to accept that the actions and inactions of President Muhammadu Buhari as military Head of State could be likened to his moves as an elected President subject to the constitution and the Rule of Law.

First, could all the actions of security agencies be blamed on the President? Nigerians are known to have canvassed that institutions of state should act independent of political office holders. There is no evidence in the public place that the President directly ordered the arrests, nor are we informed that it signals a wave of arrests targeted at judicial officers only. The President and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), are known to have campaigned vigorously on the need to combat corruption if the country is to survive economically and as a viable entity. This the government has been doing since it was inaugurated last year.

Military chiefs have been arrested, detained and arraigned before courts of competent jurisdiction. The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has probably spent more time in court rooms than in the chambers of the Senate since he was inaugurated. Some ministers who served under the previous administration are on the run when they realised it could soon be their turns to answer to charges of corrupt practices.

It has also been said that the DSS had solicited the support of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Mahmud Mohammed in apprehending the suspects. The CJN reportedly turned down the request. This, we are convinced, is sufficient evidence that the DSS took enough caution to accord the justices the honour due the offices they hold. It is not sufficient that the National Judicial Council (NJC) that has the constitutional duty of investigating and taking appropriate action on professional misconduct against judicial officers had performed its duty. How well did it do this, given the way it refused to reopen a case it said it had decided in favour of a judge accused of corrupt practices when video evidence was eventually made available to it? What do we say of its handling of the case of a judge accused of collecting bribe that the NJC simply asked to refund the bribe in instalments? In view of the shoddy manner the council had handled these and other cases, it is only to be expected that the law enforcement bodies, in their attempt to rid the society of crime and ensuring that criminals are punished, will move in to discharge their constitutional responsibility.

The judges have to answer to the charges against them in court. It is unfortunate that judges of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in solidarity with their colleague, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, refused to sit on Monday. This is similar to the actions of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) who chose to take the side of one of their own, Rickey Tarfa, who had been accused of shielding a suspected economic saboteur, and senators who abandoned the task of making laws for good governance to appear in court with the Senate President. To them all, the charges did not matter. They did not feel diminished by the alleged action of their colleagues and call for diligent prosecution of the cases.

We commend the DSS for being quick in releasing the accused judges on administrative bail. This is sufficient response to the suggestion that the government is being dictatorial and disdainful of the Rule of Law. We, however, hope that, given the extent to which the DSS said it had gone in investigating the matter and the cast-iron evidence it claims to have obtained before arresting the suspects, the accused will soon be charged to court.

The most shameful conduct in the arrests was the extent to which the Rivers State Federal High Court judge, Justice Mohammed Liman, went in obtaining extra-judicial cover to frustrate the law from taking its course. He summoned the state governor, Nyesom Wike, who wasted no time in mobilising political functionaries and party rough necks to form a cauldron around the judge. Could this be evidence that the judge has something to hide?

Arguments that the operation was carried out in the night have no place in law, nor the suggestion that only the police are empowered to conduct such investigations. Could the operation have been conducted with less drama? Perhaps yes. The state should not be seen at any time as deriving special pleasure from the discomfiture of citizens, especially since suspects are deemed innocent until they are proven guilty. There must be more civil, yet effective means of apprehending suspects.

Given their conduct in this matter, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the CJN and the NJC failed to play their parts. The question to ask the NBA and its president who suddenly found his voice in deprecating the manner the anti-corruption war is being fought is what he and his body have contributed to the anti-graft war. At all points, senior lawyers have taken the side of the accused more than the society. They have not conducted themselves as officers of the temple of justice that they are expected to be. If anything, they appear more like beneficiaries of the old order. We wonder where the NBA was when Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State tore the dress of a judge in court.

On his part, the CJN did not sufficiently show leadership. If truly concerned about the level of corruption in the sector, he ought to have been more forthcoming in waging the war than he has done so far. Fortunately, he is about to bow out. But, the question must be asked, what is the mindset of his likely successor? What role has he played in the saga? We call on President Buhari to ensure that whoever would be elected to hold enviable positions in any of the three arms of government is scrupulously screened by security agencies. The media, too, should play a major role in beaming the searchlight on such nominees. The NJC has served more like a social club for judicial officers than a serious clearing house.

This is a convenient juncture to embark on a wholesale reform of the judiciary. As the last hope for aggrieved citizens and one whose actions are meant to check the resort to self-help, the Nigerian society deserves better service. It is thus not enough to punish erring judges; a framework must be provided to prevent such development in the future.

October 14, 2016
Protesters seek support for prosecution of judges
Hundreds of protesters Thursday stormed the Abuja headquarters of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), expressing support for the arrest of some judges by the Department of State Services (DSS).

The protesters, under the aegis of Nigerians United Against Corruption‎ (NUAC) urged the NBA to withdraw its support for the arrested judges.

They equally asked the umbrella body of lawyers in the not to support corruption in any form.

The protesters were armed with placard, with various inscriptions, such as “a corrupt judge is worse than boko Haram; corruption must die in Nigeria; we support more arrest of corrupt Nigerians among others”.

Comrade Ogenyi Okpokwu, who led the protesters, handed a letter meant for the National President of the NBA, Abubakar Mahmoud (NBA) to his representative, Ezekiel David.

The protesters urged the NBA to set up an independent body to investigate issues of corruption in the profession, with a view to excluding the bad eggs among them.

In its letter, NUAC demanded as follows:
- That the NBA withdraws all form of support and sympathy for these corrupt elements which have most certainly tainted the image of one of the world’s most dignified professions.
- That you set up an independent body to investigate issues of corruption amongst members with the aim of excommunicating same, as deterrent to others who may have been enticed by the flamboyant life styles of these judases.
- All the judges so far indicted or arrested for corruption, should immediately resign considering the magnitude of the case that the DSS has built against them.
- The cases of those that have been given lenient punishments, that amount to a slap on the wrist by the National Judicial Council (NJC), should be revisited with a view to dragging them before a law court.
- The arrested judges should be charged to court within the shortest time possible to that they cannot claim their rights were violated”.
October 13, 2016
Of judges and corruption
I woke up ruminating over the DSS raid of some judges’ homes across the country, on suspicion of sharp practices and public reaction to the development. I am deeply worried. I’m worried for several reasons. One, why are we the way we are in this country? One moment, we shout at rooftops: crucify him; the next moment, we shout hosanna.

For years now, especially since the Arthur Nzeribe’s ‘procurement’ of the bizarre court injunction on June 12 in the early 90s till the present time, several people had expressed great concern and worry on the moral decline in the judiciary. Many are of the firm, valid and reasonable view that whatever ills of society there are, can be redressed so long as we have an upright, impartial and incorruptible bench.

But to date, I doubt if that is not a forlorn hope. I say so, because every attempt to ensure sanity in that Third Estate of the Realm, in this country had always been waylaid by subterfuge of ethnicity, religion and political manoeuvring aided by filthy lucre.

I insist that many Nigerians are uncomfortable with most of the pronouncements from the bench whether on land matters or, in the most important of all, political matters. But two references from those who should know will suffice for the purpose of my intervention here. If they were comments by brilliant and sound citizens like Adamu Ciroma, Mamman Daura, Lateef Jakande, Patrick Dele Cole and Odia Ofeimun, lawyers will be quick to dismiss them as people “not learned in the law”. But can anyone, truly learned, controvert these views uttered by a redoubtable Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Okwudili Oputa of blessed memory and a past Chief Justice of the Federation, highly regarded Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais on the worrisome decay in the judiciary.

First, Justice Oputa: “ No one should go to the bench to amass wealth, for money corrupts and pollutes, not only the channels of justice but also the very stream itself. It is a calamity to have a corrupt judge. When justice is bought and sold, there’s no more hope for society”.

Second, read and digest this again from a one-time Chief Justice Muhammadu Uwais: “A corrupt judge is more harmful to the society than a man who runs amok with a dagger in a crowded street. The latter can be restrained physically, but a corrupt judge deliberately destroys the moral foundation of society and causes incalculable distress to individuals through abusing his office while still being referred to as honourable”.

These two jurists are insiders who certainly know more than any of us out here. And if the statements credited to them, which had not been controverted by them, are anything to go by, they confirm without any equivocation that the rot in the judiciary is skin-deep. It therefore calls for surgical operation because the rot is akin to a festering sore on the leg that can develop into gangrene and ultimately lead to amputation of that leg.

Anyone who followed the James Ibori case from Nigeria to how it ended up in the UK cannot but agree that with the judiciary, we are, in the language of the Americans, in “real, deep shit” in this country.

A peep into the prosecution departments of the various ministries of justice in this country can be so telling and unedifying; where it is commonplace to compromise justice with the connivance of the executive. Bogus bails are said to be “manufactured” from these departments by unscrupulous law officers who secure bails from prison custody for known and confirmed criminals for huge sums of money in active but unholy collaboration with some prison officers. These unscrupulous law officers must have been emboldened to indulge in these perfidious acts because (1) they had been intimidated by some members of the executive branch to re-write legal submissions that could get their criminal hirelings off the hook at different times and (2) because some of them who work in the courts are privy to how their principals, magistrates and judges, had manipulated justice for pecuniary benefits, had also devised their own methods of making money out of those being held in prison custody awaiting trial by forging unsuspecting judges signatures to secure bails for alleged murderers through motion bails.

If people who previously had not had nice words to say on the conduct of some of our judicial officers, are now uncomfortable with the Buhari administration’s move to take the war on corruption to the bench, perhaps the method adopted can be fine-tuned in conformity with civilised norm, instead of a wholesale condemnation of the effort to bring confirmed corrupt judges and other judicial officers to account. To be sure, I am for all erring members of the bench to be ruthlessly dealt with; after all, what is bad has no other name than bad!

When a few corrupt ones are stripped of their ill-gotten wealth, without recourse to capital punishment as some are advocating, they will be made to live with the odium of that malfeasance for the rest of their lives. It is the ONLY way to redeem this country so that the young ones will not be misled into believing that the surest way to wealth and fame is through using the advantage of public office to plunder the nation and bleed it to death.

The problem I have with law is the easy recourse to technicalities to provide escape route for criminals. When an Omolaja Ogboluaje is caught beheading a fellow human being and in the process of being arraigned in court, the suspect’s first name is misspelt as Adelaja, he gets discharged and acquitted on that score, to the chagrin of those who witnessed the act of beheading and who testified in open court to that effect, in addition to the written admission of the suspect himself. Can anyone who is accessory to that fact be blamed if they insinuate that some palms had been greased in the process?

There is this erroneous and unfair charge that all the ills of our society are caused by politicians. Wherever the issue was raised, I had always stood up vehemently against the charge. I have this view because I am a politician and I know that not all politicians are that bad to be adorned with this negative toga. I also know, as one who had had the privilege of heading a government, even if at the local level, that many infractions committed in government at the local, state and federal tiers, had the ingenious but invisible signatures of civil servants, who normally open politicians eyes to where they could deal with the public till, mindlessly. They are adept at it that when the consequences of such plunder of the public treasury come on the politicians, in khaki or babanriga, the civil servants who are the real masterminds of such plunder, always got away unscathed.

This then leads me to the recommendation to the Buhari administration that the assault on the political class should spread across board to cover the civil service, the academic, the disciplined forces and the judiciary. But a caveat: the dragnet should be widespread and not selective, if the growing opinion of the citizenry that the war against corruption is targeted at perceived foes of the current administration, is not to take firm root. Some believe, because of its seeming selectiveness, that the war against corruption is another means of muzzling the opposition.

Some don’t agree with this view but the Buhari administration must be transparent to let even those wearing blinkers know that it is sincere and impartial.

All public and civil servants at all levels of government in the last 10 years at least, should have their bank accounts and assets investigated to know how rotten morality had gotten in our land; and membership of the ruling party should not provide a safety net for all those who had held offices in the public and civil services of this country.

Buhari has the moral standing to carry out this task but he must brace up to stiff opposition from vested interests, as is currently being witnessed. If he lives true to his words at his presidential inauguration that he belongs to no one but he’s for everyone, his national support base for this crusade will widen and his name will be etched in gold for ever. But if allows himself to be swayed by petty political, ethnic, religious or other primordial considerations, all his strivings in life, will come to nought. And we will be back to square one!
- Osiyemi, is a public affairs analyst.
October 13, 2016
Attorney-General justifies arrest of judges

•’No one immune to investigation’

CRITICS of the night raid in some judges’ homes got an official reply yesterday.

It was all part of an investigation, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami (SAN), said.

The Department of State Services (DSS) arrested some judges after storming their homes at night last weekend. The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) condemned the raids, which the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) described as “saddening” and “unfortunate”.

Malami argued that the judges’ fate was mere investigation of criminal allegations.

He contended that no one is immune to investigation under the law, noting that once an allegation of criminality was raised, it was the duty of the investigating agencies to carry out a probe.

The AGF spoke in Abuja shortly after inaugurating the “country expert review committee for the second cycle of the review of implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).”

Malami, who was asked by reporters to comment on the arrest of judges, said: “The fundamental consideration is whether there is an allegation of the commission of a crime; whether there is the need for investigation, and whether the relevant provisions of the law and indeed, all circumstances, as provided in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) are put into consideration in our conduct as regard the fight against corruption.

He said: “The bottom line is that we have a responsibility to fight corruption. Corruption is a crime and nobody, regardless of how highly placed, is exempted as far as issues that border on crimes and criminalities are concerned.

“The limited exceptions as we know constitutionally are the exceptions of immunity. And to the best of my knowledge those exceptions do not apply to investigation.

“For those that are conferred with the immunity, the right to investigate has not been taken away constitutionally.

“So, I think the framework and the circumstances within which we are operating are clearly whether there exists the right to investigate or not, and whether the action borders on criminality.”

“Once crimes and criminality are concerned, nobody is an exception. I think the undertone should be exclusively the consideration of the existence of a prima facie case; existence of reasonable grounds for suspicion of commission of a crime.

“And if there are, no member of the Legislature, Judiciary and Executive can definitely be exempted from investigation. I think where we are now is the point of investigation and that is what is taking place,” Malami said.

Inaugurating the committee, Malami expressed confidence in its members’ ability to execute their responsibilities.

Members of the committee are drawn from 22 agencies of the Federal Government, including Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) and Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-corruption Reforms (TUGAR).

October 12, 2016
Judges’ arrest: Student body lauds DSS

The National Association of Nigerian Post-graduate Students (NAN-POSTGRADs) has expressed support for the Department of State Service (DSS) in its fight against corruption and acts that could threaten internal security.

Mr Kingsley Nwanze, the President of the association, expressed the support in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday.

Nwanze expressed surprise at the reaction of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and National Judicial Council (NJC) to the arrest of some judges by the DSS operatives.

He described the arrest as a “positive action to rescue the nation from judicial rascality’’.

Nwanze noted that the organisations had not done the needful by disciplining those judges and refering them to necessary security agencies for prosecution.

He said that if such action was taken, the “DSS would not have gone on a rescue mission’’.

The president said that if the revelations in the service press statement were objects of fact, “then any right thinking person or organisation should rather appreciate the collective efforts of the DSS in ridding the judiciary of endemic corruption than vilification’’.

“For us as an organisation, we cannot but give kudos to these positive actions aimed at making our judicial system the fair arbiter of good justice.

“This has also shown that it is no longer business as usual, a situation where justice is no longer for the highest bidder rather than for those who deserve justice,’’ he said.

Nwanze urged the DSS to sustain the tempo in the fight against corruption and not to be deterred by negative criticisms by interested parties.

“It is also true that there are individual actions that can jeopardise the internal security of our dear nation, while the corrupt action of these judges has potent capacities to do so,’’ Nwanze said.

He said that the association supported President Muhammadu Buhari in the actions that he had taken so far, to rid Nigeria of corruption, adding that they were in line with constitutional provisions.

According to him, to rid a nation of corruption is in the interest of everybody irrespective of religion, ethnicity, profession and status.

October 11, 2016
NDDC board: Senate rejects nomination of two members

…Faults arrest, detention of Judges

The Senate on Tuesday rejected nominations of two Olatokunbo Ajasin (Ondo) and Hon Donatus Enyinna (Abia) as board members of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Also, the Senate faulted the arrest, detention of Judges by the Department of Security Service (DSS) following adoption of a motion.

Details shortly…

October 11, 2016
Judges: DSS grills bank directors in bribe probe

CJN sad over colleagues’ fate

A JUDGE begged Department of State Service (DSSS) boss Mr. Lawan Daura when confronted with evidence that he got more than N500million bribe, The Nation learnt yesterday.

The judge refused to unlock the safe in his house for DSS operatives to have access to its contents, a source said.

The DSS, which plans to take possession of the safe to uncover its contents, is said to have been questioning bank directors over links with some of the judges.

Another judge was said to have obtained a loan from a bank to execute a contract in Bauchi State and when he defaulted, the bank filed a suit against him at the Federal High Court in Bauchi.

Also, it was learnt that most of the judges against whom the DSS launched sting operations at the weekend had been under “painstaking investigation” in the last one year.

As at press time, the DSS had started questioning some bank chiefs and directors implicated in money laundering and huge bribery scandal.

But, amid more revelations on the corruption in the Judiciary, the DSS yesterday intensified the grilling of seven detained judges.

Those detained are two Supreme Court Justices – Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro; – the suspended Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, Justice Mohammed Ladan Tsamiya, who was picked up in Sokoto; Justice Adeniyi Ademola (Federal High Court); the Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice I. A. Umezulike; Justice Kabiru Auta of Kano State High Court; and Justice Muazu Pindiga (Gombe State High Court).

The source said: “Corruption in the Judiciary was based on our intelligence gathering and alerts from informants and petitions. It is not based on the perception of Nigerians. We have been on the trail of some of these judges in the last few months.

“For instance, we started probing one of the seven judges in detention since the Ramadan period of 2015. When we got sufficient intelligence on him, bordering on over N500million bribe, we invited him.

“The judge was given a copy of our report on him. By the time he read it halfway, he prostrated, held the legs of the security chief and begged for forgiveness. We captured the way he was reeling on the floor.

“We later sent a security brief on him to the National Judicial Council (NJC) with enough evidence. But he was cleared by the NJC as having committed no wrong. Since the NJC could not do the needful, we have decided to subject him to a judicial process.

“We also have a case of one of the judges who refused to unlock a safe in his house when our operatives went to his house. We may actually secure the leave of the court to relocate the safe to Abuja.

“Another detained judge got a contract from Bauchi State Government and obtained a loan from a bank. But when he defaulted in paying back the facility, the bank filed an action against him before the Federal High Court in Bauchi. What is the business of a judge with contract?”

Another source gave insights into the ongoing operation against 15 judges by the Service.

“We are digging more and getting fresh revelations from these judges. For instance, a Federal High Court judge in detention actually spread the N54million and $171,779 recovered from his residence in different rooms. He kept them in different parts of the rooms like a thief.”

Apparently referring to the criticisms against the sting operations, the source said:

“Some individuals have been bigger than Nigeria. If you are looking for one or two, go to the Judiciary.

The DSS mandate is to look into anything that is detrimental to Nigeria’s national security interest and to prevent it.

“There is no immunity conferred on judges, we are only duty bound to protect the court because it is a sacred place, a temple of justice. Once you have issues, you go to court but immediately a judge is outside the court, he or she is like you and me.

“There is nothing unusual about the arrest of judges other than it has not been the practice. But it is normal. Once a petition is lodged, it is normal that you just have to look into it as a security agency.”

There were indications yesterday that the DSS had started grilling some bank chiefs and directors on allegations of money laundering and involvement in huge bribery scandals.

The source said: “We have started looking into allegations against some banks; we have torn all banks apart. Some bank chiefs have been coming to the DSS office in Abuja for clarifications on some transactions we are investigating.

“Every week, not less than three bank officials come here. We will let you know the outcome soon.”

October 11, 2016