It is said that the Court is the temple of justice. The ministers in this sacred temple are expected to live above suspicion. The credibility of a Court and its rulings is a function of the integrity of the presiding Judge. In the words of Franz kafka in The Trial; “Justice must stand still, or else the scales will waver and a just verdict will become impossible”.
Justice can only stand still and the scales firm if Judges are not bias in handling cases.
How justice is dispensed will determine the level of confidence the common man will have in the presiding judge in particular and the judiciary in general. The law should not be seen as a cobweb where the small flies (masses) are caught while the great (politically exposed people in government) break through and influence the course of justice with impunity.
Most Nigerians still have confidence in the judiciary and administration of justice in Nigeria. The judiciary played a major role in stabilizing our nascent democracy through its landmark judgments. Many see it as an impartial arbiter and bulwark against injustices, it ought to be so. Anthony Aniagolu, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court admonished Judges while celebrating his 85th birthday on 25th October, 2007. He declared:
“Of all the professions, you are the one that most directly represents God on earth, because God is justice and so by delivering justice on people you are sitting on his throne. For this reason you will be judged harsher than any other profession, so you must be careful how you deliver justice…Yours is the only profession directly created by God when he asked for twelve judges to be appointed for the twelve tribes of Israel. He did not ask for teachers, doctors or engineers to be appointed, but judges who will help him administer justice on earth. You must deliver justice as if it were God himself that is sitting on the bench. Justice must be your focus and the rule of law your guide”.
It is obvious that some judges are not aware of the sanctity of their chosen profession or decided to ignore. Justice Olufuntola Oyelola Adekeye of the Supreme Court who retired recently alerted a bewildered nation of the enormous financial inducements politicians offer Justices of the apex court during proceedings on election petitions to deliver judgment in their favour.
The Justice Kayode Esho Panel on Judiciary set up by General Sani Abacha on 29th December 1993, indicted 47 Judges in the country for corruption, incompetence, misuse of ex-part orders and abuse of office.
Esho urged Abacha to act on the report if the Judiciary must be saved the shame and utter destruction. Various administrations have failed to act on the report despite pressure from eminent Jurists including Justice Akinola Aguda (retired), former Chief Justice of Botswana and late Chief Rotimi Williams demanded the release of the report.
In the current dispensation, many Justices have been granting indiscriminate ex-parte orders that have paralyzed organizations, political parties and confused INEC on election issues despite cautions by past Chief Justice of Nigeria that Judges should desist from doing so. The fact that some high court Justices take pleasure in granting ex-parte orders and even extending them beyond the period approved by law even when there are no applications for such extension as was granted in the case of the All Progressives Grand Alliance involving Ichie Okuli Jude Ejike V. Victor Umeh (Suit No. E/270/2012).
Victor Umeh’s opponents in the party decided to use one Okuli said to be a former member of APGA in Udi LGA of Enugu State to challenge the tenure of the Enugu State Chapter chairman of the party at an Enugu State High Court but lost. The court dismissed the suit as being a political matter which is not justiceable based on Supreme Court judgment in the case of Onuoha V. Okafor where the apex court decided that the court cannot dabble into political issues. The Judge advised Okuli to join another political party if he is not comfortable with APGA. The ruling subsists till today. In the present case Okuli re-circled the same case against Chief Victor Umeh, National Chairman of APGA.
This time he sought and procured an ex-parte order restraining Umeh from convening a national, state and local government executive meeting of the party even though APGA is not joined in the suit.
Umeh’s lawyer Patrick Ikwueto (SAN) filed a preliminary objection. The judge restated the ex-parte order restraining Umeh to 17th September 2012, when he would rule on the objection. The APGA boss frowned at it saying nobody requested for such a long extension of ex parte order. It is obvious that an ex parte order lasts for a maximum of 14 days. In this case it was extended to 48 days. The Chief Judge’s unilateral and unsolicited action grounded the party activities to the pleasure of the plaintiff and his sponsors. Ironically, the presiding judge said if the court cannot contribute to the development of the law, it cannot help in destroying it.
A bewildered Umeh rushed to the Court of Appeal Enugu Division to vacate it describing it as a travesty of justice and asked the judge to withdraw from the case in the interest of justice. Umeh was stunned and suspected that the judge was acting a script by his opponents who had boasted that he must be removed at all cost. He reported the judge to the National Judicial council. The council queried him immediately. The nation eagerly awaits NJC’s decision.
In what looked like a retaliation Justice Umezulike vacated the long ex-parte order and replaced it with an order of perpetual injunction that restrained Umeh from parading himself as National Chairman of APGA and adjourned for judgment. The Judge also refused to hear the motion praying the court that he should withdraw from the matter and re-assign same to a neutral judge.
It is a common practice in all democracies for a judicial officer to withdraw from a matter if a litigant has no confidence in him to adjudicate on his case. That is the essence of fair hearing and faith in the judicial process.
The Daily Sun newspaper of November 6, 2012 reported a similar matter where a petition was sent to the President of National Industrial Court demanding that Justice Moren Esowe should withdraw from a case instituted by Ambassador D. C. B. Nwanna against the Director General of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ezekiel Oladeji to prematurely retire him from service. The Judge was accused of manifest bias in favour of the claimant. She honourably withdrew from the case without shaking the foundations of the Judiciary and the nation.
Perhaps if the Federal Government in collaboration with the National Judicial Council had sanctioned the 47 Judges indicted by the Esho Panel on Judiciary in 1994, the corruption and abuse of office in the Judiciary would have been eliminated.
Although INEC in its letter dated 26th July 2012, recognized Chief Victor Umeh as the APGA National Chairman, one is at a loss why the Enugu Chief Judge would paralyze the activities of a party with two Governors; Federal and State legislators and numerous Local Government Councils’ Chairmen and Councillors.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Maryam Alooma Muktar is very competent, decisive and pragmatic in the way she has piloted the affairs of the judiciary so far. Nigerians are of the view that she will halt the slide and drift in the temple of justice and restore hope in the common man that justice will be done even if the skies fall. The NJC should intervene in the APGA/Enugu Chief Judge matter immediately with a view to preventing a miscarriage of justice. The era of judicial impunity and recklessness in this matter and others must be stopped.
• James Attamah is a public affairs analyst based in Lagos
