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Tag: self-help

  • NLC: seek judicial redress instead of self-help

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked politicians and their political parties, aggrieved as a result of the just concluded general elections not to resort to self-help but seek help from the judicial system, saying as patriot, Nigerians must collectively work towards sustaining the nation’s democracy.

    The congress also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to consider returning to the implementation of Justice Uwais report on electoral reform with a view to eliminating and discouraging interference in the nation’s electoral process.

    It also asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections in places where elections was declared inconclusive, while frowning at the conduct of some soldiers deployed for electoral duties during the just concluded polls across the country.

    In a statement signed by Acting President of the Congress, Comrade Amaechi Asugwani, the workers umbrella body said it was ratifying to note the insistance of the INEC that no certificate of return will be issued in situation where election results were announced under duress, adding that such should be made to serve as deterrant to politicians.

    He said “In the spirit of the peace accord signed by the major political parties prior to the 2019 general election, we urge all persons aggrieved by the conduct of the elections to refrain from self-help. Those with genuine grievances should resort to the legal process for the redress of all wrongs.

    “As patriots who are committed to nation building, we have no other option but to collectively work towards the sustenance, improvement and deepening of our democracy. There is no option to democracy”.

    According to the congress: “The conduct of the 2019 Nigerian general election was largely peaceful in many parts of the country. Yet, there were a number of logistic and security issues that dogged the conduct of this year’s general election.

    “First, the date of the Presidential and National Assembly elections was shifted from 16th February 2019 to 3rd March 2019 in the early hours of D-day while Governorship and State House of Assembly elections was postponed from 3rd March to 9th March 2019. This attracted widespread condemnation by Nigerians and the international community and contributed to low turnout of voters during the 2019 general election.

    “The public expectations after the postponement was that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would put its acts together and ensure that the conduct of the elections on the postponed dates was impeccable.

    “Unfortunately, that was hardly the case as the elections were blighted by perennial tardy logistics such as late arrival of election materials to polling units, failure of data capture machines in some polling units and poor knowledge of election rules by many INEC ad hoc staff.

    “Furthermore, desperate politicians with an agenda to manipulate the electoral process to their own advantage played out the script of ballot box snatching, intimidation of election officials, waylaying of collation centres and general perpetration of violence.

    “While INEC should be commended for insisting on the use of card readers for elections in every part of the country and for issuing a policy statement that no election result obtained through duress would be validated by issuance of certificate of return, it is clear that these pronouncements hardly served as sufficient deterrence to those bent on foisting the rule of the jungle on our election process.

    “Despite the fears expressed by Nigerians with respect to the deployment of the military during elections, soldiers were deployed presumably to preempt ballot box snatching, destruction of voting materials and arrest any drift to widespread violence. While the deployment of the military was helpful in preventing skirmishes from different local hotspots from degenerating into society-wide brigandage, the conduct of some soldiers deployed in some parts of the country to maintain public order left a lot to be desired.

    “First, contrary to the judgements of Federal High Courts in Sokoto and Lagos which were later upheld by the Court of Appeal in the legal suit – “Yussuf vs Obasanjo” – and which stated that the job of maintaining security during elections primarily resides with the Police, some military personnel went outside their duty call to invade polling units and collation centres, and intimidate election officials, conducts that were in violation of our laws and scared many voters from exercising their franchise.

    “Also, the deployment of military personnel to harass political rivals was a new low in our electoral history and presents a serious setback to recent electoral reform gains. We call on the military high command to investigate these infractions and bring the culprits, whoever they are, to book as a deterrence to others.

    “Going forward, there is need for serious national conversations on critical areas of improvement in the conduct of elections in Nigeria. We also call for a sincere revisit of the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Report especially as it relates to reinforcing INEC’s independence, unbundling of INEC and creation of Elections Offences Commission.

    “We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to show commitment to implementing aspects of Uwais Report which relevance is validated by recent developments in our electoral space. We also demand that INEC must ensure free, fair, and credible elections in some states where the process was declared inconclusive and polls rescheduled for 23rd March 2019.

    “Efforts must also be re-doubled to develop a new national civic culture that venerates the rule of law. The trend where politicians consider themselves successful to the extent that they are able to manipulate our electoral laws, maim and kill their fellow citizens, bribe voters and perpetrate all sort of electoral shenanigans must be put to a stop.

    “INEC shares some responsibilities in the shortcomings witnessed during the last general elections. First, despite the insistence by INEC on the use of card readers for the election, the purported failure of the card readers to read the finger prints of the electorates in many polling units resulted to widespread use of manual accreditation which many politicians took advantage of to deploy hired hands to vote with multiple Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) even in the absence of the authentic owners of the PVCs.

    “We call on INEC to completely outlaw the use of manual accreditation for voting. We also call for continuous audit of the voters roll. We must take advantage of technological advancement and work with all relevant stakeholders to deploy technology in a way that minimizes to the barest human interference with our electoral process as a nation. INEC must stick to early planning and adequate training of personnel deployed on election duties.

    “In the spirit of the peace accord signed by the major political parties prior to the 2019 general election, we urge all persons aggrieved by the conduct of the elections to refrain from self-help. Those with genuine grievances should resort to the legal process for the redress of all wrongs.

    “As patriots who are committed to nation building, we have no other option but to collectively work towards the sustenance, improvement and deepening of our democracy. There is no option to democracy”.

     

     

  • Killings: Why Nigerians may resort to self-help— Okogie

    Retired Catholic archbishop of Lagos State, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, says the spate of killings in parts of the country will ultimately force Nigerians rise up in their own self defence.

    Okogie,reacting to the latest killings of innocent Nigerians in Benue and Adamawa States by herdsmen ,said the situation is getting out of hand.

    He called it strange and unprecedented.

    “I have never seen this kind of thing before o,” he told The Nation by phone.

    He said the development has proved former Defence Minister Yakubu Danjuma right about the need for those under attack to defend themselves.

    “I will like to abide by what TY Danjuma said that everybody should be ready to protect himself,” he said.

    “What is happening now is proving him (Danjuma) right.

    “It going to get to the point of using vigilance people for protection and whatever they use that is nobody’s business, provided your own life and property are  guarded.  Everybody will have to protect himself.

    “We  would get the police to provide protection during our celebration of the Holy Mass because that is what is provided by the government. If that is not enough and they continue to kill, let them go ahead.  But every day is for the thief and one day is for the owner.”

    Continuing,Okogie said:”this world belongs to us all. If you do good, you will reap it and if do bad you will reap it.

    “It is not a question of being a commissioner or a  governor. It is the future that matters. A good name is better than riches.  It is horrible.

    “Both the Bible and the Quran admonish us not to kill. This injunction is not just for Christians and Muslims but for everyone.

    “We should all know that there is nemesis.  If it doesn’t catch up with you, it will surely catch people after you. Life is precious and only God can give live. If you waste anybody’s life, you will get the consequence from God.”

    However,he said the situation would not degenerate into a religious war.

    “I don’t believe this will lead to religious war because I know that after all said and done,  the good Lord will come out.  He will show us the way,” he said.

    Danjuma,a former chief of army staff had, in March, said in Jalingo,the Taraba State capital that Nigerians must defend themselves against attacks by killers.

    “You must rise to protect yourselves from these people.If you depend on the Armed Forces to protect you, you will all die,” he said.

    “This ethnic creasing must stop in Taraba, and it must stop in Nigeria. These killers have been protected by the military, they cover them and you must be watchful to guide and protect yourselves because you have no any other place to go.

    “The ethnic cleansing must stop now otherwise Somalia will be a child play.

    “I ask all of you to be on your alert and defend your country, defend your state.”

    The Presidency daubed  Danjuma’s statement   shocking and scary.

    It said unrestrained pronouncements were capable of encouraging criminals to defy legal and democratic institutions.

  • Before the resort to self-help

    I feel for my country Nigeria. Not because I have become a pessimist from my avowed incurable optimist’s position but because there are times in a life when your power of endurance is stretched to a breaking point.

    I pray we haven’t gotten to the point of a smouldering cauldron about to boil over; and I beseech our dear President to rise up to the current situation and prove the patriotic zest for which he is reputed. I know the man has the temperament of a cool and calculating manager but there are times when there’s virtue in quick-silver thinking and action.

    The time is now: the tempo of the activities of herdsmen across the country has heightened to the point that government should rein them in now, so that the roof of the super-structure called Nigeria is not brought down on everybody’s head.

    The problem we have at hand is akin to a festering sore that requires a surgical operation and the Buhari regime is advised to take prompt action that transcends primordial or ethnic considerations before people resort to self-help.

    A post on social media, credited to veteran newspaper manager, Akogun Tola Adeniyi wrote about a traditional ruler, Attah of Igala who was said to have invoked the wrath of thunder that instantly struck down dead their herds of cattle. That’s self-help, if the story is true, and urgent steps must be taken to arrest the situation before it gets out of hand.

    Gani Adams earned his title as the Are Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland not cheaply; his exploits with Dr Fredrick Fasheun in mobilising the Yoruba under the Odua People’s Congress (OPC) in those heady days, belonged to the realm of legends and those who experienced that orgy of violence in defence of a race, will not pray for a recourse to that era. And similar deadly militant groups are spread across the country that must not be inadvertently provoked to dastardly action of reprisals.

    A return to peace across the land is a task must be accomplished – for the sake of the privileged and the supposed underdog!

  • Senate’s resort to self-help

    Character today counts for very little among our leaders. Rather than feel diminished by the perfidy of the leadership of the Senate, some senators have continued to justify the curious sense of entitlement that for instance drove BukolaSaraki, the Senate President to sell the victory of his party and Ekweremadu,, his deputy, to so covet an office he had occupied for eight years that he didn’t see anything immoral in ‘stealing’ what by convention belongs to the ruling party with a majority in any participatory democracy anywhere in the world. Instead of remorse, the duo has been playing the victim. Earlier they regaled Nigerians with tails of their exploits. Saraki told bewildered Nigerians that he, in the wee hours in June last year, hid himself inside a small car parked in front of the Senate chambers for close to four hours until the coast was clear enough for him to sneak into the Senate chambers where he was adopted president mainly by opposition members while 51 senators elected on the platform of his party were having a meeting with the president. For Ekweremadu, he chose the venue of the party he packaged to celebrate the victory of perfidy to inform Nigerians how he, along with some PDP members kept a night vigil inside David Mark’s sitting room scheming the theft of a convention he had enjoyed for eight years.

    However, some outraged senators  who felt diminished  by the Senate leadership’s lack of character petitioned the police alleging  that the source of Senate Rule 3 (3) (i) in the 2015 Orders-(All Senator-elect are entitled to participate in the voting for Senate President and Deputy Senate President) used for the election was suspect since the existing Senate Rule 3 (3) (k) of the 2011-(All Senators-elect shall participate in the nomination and voting for President and Deputy President of the Senate)which makes it mandatory for all members to participate in the process of electing the Senate President and Deputy Senate President, was never known to have been amended. A year after police investigation, a forgery case was initiated by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, against the leadership of the Senate, the immediate past Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji SalisuMaikasuwa, and the Clerk of the Senate, Ben Efeturi, at an Abuja Federal High Court,

    But rather than defend their honour by addressing serious issues of ‘fraud and forgery’ leveled against them, custodians of our laws have chosen to resort to self-help. The chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, SabiAbdullahiissued a statement, not to deny the charges but proffer reasons why the leadership of the Senate should not be prosecuted. This was followed by some theatrics on the floor of the Senate.Following a motion by Dino Melaye titled “Imminent threat to our democracy, alleged invitation of our principal officers by the court,” the AGF was summoned to come and explain why his action “does not constitute gross misconduct, incompetence, contempt of court and abuse of office”. Melaye insisted that “the Senate Rule 2015 is not forged and it is the authentic rule of the Senate”. His specious argument was that the same rule was used in screening the ministers including the AGF, service chiefs and in passing the budget. “If the rule is fake, then the budget we have received is also fake and illegal”.

    But how does asking the leadership to defend its honour translate to ‘a coup aimed at undermining the independence of the legislature’? Saraki and Ekweremadu, whether as self-confessed civilian coup plotters or as offshoot of David Mark/Ekweremadu’s 7th Senate, know too well that coups are not planned in open courtroom where they have been arraigned to defend their integrity. The inference that prosecution for alleged forgery is ‘capable of plunging the country into anarchy and constitutional crisis”, is troubling. This looks like a subtle threat to indicate that the Senate leadership is ready to pull down the whole edifice on its head if it goes down. We must not forget that shortly after the Deputy Senate President was reported to have said that ‘Buhari’s war on corruption was capable of leading to anarchy’, the Niger Delta Avengers and some South-south governors demanded that government slows down war on corruption. And if one may ask, even if ‘the prosecution of the Senate principal officers was aimed at forcing a leadership change in the chamber’, has the leadership of the Senate now become hereditary? It is also said that because ‘we are in a state of economic emergency’, what the Senate leadership expects are executive ‘bills and proposals aimed at resolving the crises of unemployment, currency depreciation, inflation, crime and insecurity,’ and not prosecution. And should the president fail to see reason with the Senate leadership and embarks on “criminal prosecution of freely elected legislators”,they reminded President Buhari that he “should not mistake the maturity and hand of cooperation being extended to the Presidency by the legislature as a sign of weakness’. There are infractions and incompetence, on the part of the executive which according to them were overlooked to “ensure that every Nigerian has food on his table and live comfortably in a secure environment”.

    Unfortunately Nigerians can see through the Senate’s subtle blackmail and hypocrisy. Nigerians know this Senate loves none but itself. This is a Senate that recently demonstrated its profligacy by spending N300m on toys called SUVs in a situation where 26 states cannot pay the minimum wage of N18,000; this is a Senate where many of its governors-turned senators are earning double salaries in the name of pension when millions of pensioners have not been paid for years, and this is a  Senate that recently made “ proposals for immunity and life pension for its principal officers’, many of who are according to Femi Fanana, a human right lawyer, have been ‘linked with criminal diversion of public funds, forgery and rape’. With friends like Saraki, Ekweremadu and their 83 ‘like mind senators’ therefore, Nigerians know they have no enemies.

    Perhaps it is also time to remind the Senate leadership that Nigerians who voted for change don’t want business as usual. They don’t want anyone including those with credibility problems to cover up infractions and incompetence of the government. It was the cover- up of infractions in Jonathan government by Mark/ Ekweremadu 7th Senate   that has now brought the nation to its knees.The7th Senate looked the other way as officials of the Jonathan administration ferried raw dollars from the CBN vault to the National Security Adviser’s office which served as a piggy bank for all manners of people. Mark/Ekweremadu kept their peace when concerned Nigerians raised alarm about the hijacking of politics and the economy by brigands. They did nothing about the rot in NNPC and in the ministry of finance where the nation lost billions inform of import duty waivers, and finally, they did nothing when Jonathan illegally removed Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the then CBN Governor for alerting Nigerians that $20billion was not transferred from NNPC to the federation account.

    Nigerians want nothing short of prosecution of the Senate leadership. It is also in its interest as advocate of ‘separation of powers’ to subject itself to prosecution instead of resorting to self-help. As students and offshoot of Mark/Ekweremadu, it will help it to first rid itself of the log in its own eyes if it is to properly recognize infractions in Buhari’s government. And finally, it will invalidate the thesis of those who on account of the Senate PDP caucus’ threat to withdraw support for Buhari’s government if the prosecution goes on, that ‘it is all about corruption fighting back’.

  • Supreme Court ruling can bring about self-help, says Akwa Ibom APC

    The Akwa Ibom State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the Supreme Court failed it by affirming the election of Governor Udom Emmanuel.

    It regretted the Supreme Court’s judgment on the 2015 election of Governor Emmanuel, stating that the decision is capable of eroding public confidence in the judiciary.

    Though the Supreme Court will give reasons why it upheld Udom’s election today, the APC raised some posers, which it claimed point to the possibilities that the verdict could have been influenced.

    Emmanuel was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while the APC presented Obong Umana Okon Umana as its candidate.

    The Chairman of the party, Dr. Amadu Attai, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said the criticisms and condemnations that trailed the judgment by lawyers, laymen and political analysts, “pointed to such compromising and questionable circumstances and context surrounding the ruling that should not be swept under the carpet.”

    Attai, while noting that certain events that happened before, during and after the judgment suggest that some powerful  forces in the state had foreknowledge of the outcome of the judgment, stated that such issues continue to generate negative reactions “about the integrity of the apex court and the sanctity of its judgments.”

    He said: “In the light of the foregoing, the confidence of Nigerians in the Supreme Court has been badly eroded. This is reflected in the spate of attacks on Supreme Court judgments. Such dangerous lack of confidence in the sanctity of judgments by the Supreme Court and in its integrity could force Nigerians to resort to self-help, particularly as the mass killings in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states during the elections have been swept under the carpet by the Supreme Court judgments.

    “Another danger lurking in these judgments is that they constitute precedents for future adjudication of election cases, in which case the judgments might be seen as the legitimisation of electoral violence..”

    He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to stem what he called the decay in the judiciary, which is expected to be the bastion of justice, adding that “the leadership of the country and indeed Nigerians should not sit and watch the Judiciary collapse.

    ‘’We call on the President to arrest the drift in the third arm of government by probing the rot in the Supreme Court.’’

  • Attack on judges: self-defence or self-help to the rescue?

    Attack on judges: self-defence or self-help to the rescue?

    A week after the September 11, 2001 attack, President Bush told a joint session of the Congress: ‘’whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done’’.

    At this juncture,  Nigerian judges must come to terms with, and tackle three sets of enemies: the few judges in their midst, driven by greed and avarice and know no honour politicians, who go about painting judges in grotesque pictures just to cover up their failures, and lastly, lawyers, who collected monies from litigants and pocketed same, but return to explain to his client that other parties bided higher, and at any given opportunity, they lend voices to judicial corruption discourse.

    If a judge can file a petition against a sitting governor in Osun State, demanding his impeachment, there is nothing stopping a judge from calling on judicial authorities for the discipline of a fellow judge he/she considered desecrating the temple of justice.

    The leadership of the Judiciary cannot afford too, to keep such elements in the system.

    To effectively tame the remaining two sets of enemies perhaps, require some illustrations.

    In 1841, an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, entitled Compensation, was published suggesting “every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults” and “acquire habits of self-help” as “our strength grows out of our weakness.”

    In this context, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: ’’No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, or to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”

    The right of self-defence is the right for persons to use reasonable force or defensive force, for the purpose of defending one’s own life or the lives of others, including, in certain circumstances, the use of deadly force.

    Take for instance, in August 2014, Ram Kumar Singh, a practising advocate since 1983, sent a notice to the Supreme Court as well as the Chief Justice of India, alleging that the Chief Judge of the Allahabad High Court was “pro-government” and “unfit to administer in his present capacity”.

    He also accused the Chief Justice of India of helping the Chief Judge and the Supreme Court, saying the apex body was “captured by corrupt gang of people”.

    The court said the allegations were “contemptuous, wild and reckless”. It  barred Singh from entering both the District Court and the Allahabad High Court (including Lucknow Bench) for six months.

    Following the order, advocate Singh, who was present in the court and had argued his case in person, was taken into judicial custody.

    Eventually, the court’s order read: “We are of the view that any lenient or sympathetic approach, if adopted by the court, would give a wrong message to all concerned and may cause serious damage to the authority of the court.

    “The allegations are apparently scandalous and lower down the authority of the court. We, therefore, hold the contemnor guilty of criminal contempt.”

    Holding the lawyer guilty of “maligning the reputation” and “lowering the authority of the court” through his comments, the Allahabad High Court sentenced him to four-month imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1,500.

    On November 08, 2003, a combative criminal defence lawyer who represented some of the most notorious defendants in Northern California (USA) went to jail to serve a 20-day sentence for “extremely offensive” and “utterly unprofessional” conduct during a trial four years ago. She also was fined $4,300 for contempt.

    Maureen Kallins, 54, who began practising law in 1976, left a packed courtroom with her hands cuffed behind her back after a judge refused to modify her sentence for contempt of court.

    Kallins received five contempt sanctions from the judge during the 1999 trial, in which she represented an accused rapist who was subsequently convicted. Her appeals were recently exhausted.

    Kallins had been a well-known legal figure in Northern California, particularly for her aggressive style in the courtroom and her tendency to enrage judges and prosecutors.

    Appellate courts chastised her for “outrageous” conduct and for being so “out of control” in one trial that it became “the trial from hell.”

    The 2011 Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal led by Justice Kumai Bayang Akaahs (now JSC) on 5 October, 2011 summoned the National Publicity Secretary of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Mr. Rotimi Fasakin for allegedly calling the five justices of the tribunal “a cash and carry panel”.

    The said controversial press statement led to the tribunal summoning Nigerian Tribune’s Editor, Mr Edward Dickson and reporter, Christian Okeke, who were later discharged and acquitted after giving evidence that it was issued by Fasakin. In what could have served as a lesson for our politicians of today, the panel also allowed Fasakin to walk out of the court a free man.

    Ever since then, attacks on judges have not just increased, but added some new dimensions.

    A High Court in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State was bombed on January 6, 2015. Justice Charles Wali was to hear a suit instituted by the then Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Otelemaba Amachree, and others seeking an injunction to retrain a member, Evans Bipi, from parading himself as the Speaker of the Assembly, when the incident occurred.

    On 22 May, 2015, angry youths took to the streets in some part of Kano State, protesting what they call an abuse on the Prophet Muhammad by some members of Tijjaniya Movement during a lecture in Kano. The accused person and a female who organised the lecture were to be arraigned before the Kurna Sharia Court the same day it was set ablaze.

    A new dimension to delaying criminal cases was witnessed in Ekiti State prior to the swearing in of the state Governor, Ayo Fayose.

    Fayose was under trial for allegations of financial misappropriation during his first term as governor between 2003 and 2006 when he was removed from office through an impeachment.

    Prior to the swearing-in, a group, E-11, and others challenged Fayose’s eligibility to contest the election. In a determined bid to stop the case from being heard, judges, lawyers, court officials, and journalists were, on September 22nd and 25th, 2014, beaten or assaulted.  Judges’ suits and court records were also torn to shreds, while windows and furniture of the courts were smashed.

    Curiously, Ekiti State Chief Judge stepped out to administer oath of office and allegiance to Fayose shortly after the incident.

    A big lesson could have been served on politicians if the Chief Judge refused to administer the oaths to Fayose.

    A horrible precedent had been set. All the corrupt governors or ‘’very important persons’’ need to do is to cause the disruption of a criminal trial by sending thugs to beat up judges and force a shut-down of the “helpless” Judiciary.

    Also in Bayelsa State, gang of thugs repeated the Ekiti incident when, on March 30, 2015, they attacked a Federal High Court in Yenogoa in order to prevent the court, which was in session, from delivering a judgment on Senator Heineken Lokpobiri’s case against the governor’s preferred senatorial candidate, Foster Ogola, over the validity of the latter’s candidacy for Bayelsa West senatorial district.

    The fact remains that those who invaded the court acted criminally, but got away with it as well as with benefits, which makes the crime attractive to these personalities

    Coming back home, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Austine Alegeh (SAN) during the special session of the Supreme Court to mark the commencement of the 2015-2016 legal year and the swearing-in of newly conferred Senior Advocates of Nigeria, accused some judges of rendering judgments for a fee.

    Alegeh said: “It is indeed very worrisome that certain judicial officers still engage in rendering judgments for a fee. Instances abound where judicial officers have resorted to turning the law on its head and making pronouncements which are at variance with the provisions of the law.

    “A few others have formed the bad habit of ignoring judicial precedents even when such authorities are brought to their attention by counsel’’

    Even in some developed countries, it would not have been out of place for a court of competent jurisdiction to summon the NBA president the following day to name those he found to have engaged in ‘’rendering judgments for a fee’’.

    The Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, went on air on  October 19, 2015 to accuse the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa of undue interference in the activities of various election petition tribunals and other judicial cases and working to sway decisions in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Again, Metuh did not cite one example of cases or judges affected,  except just to bring the judge or the judiciary into ridicule, hatred, scorn or contempt.

    In view of the harm being done to the Judiciary through these acts, judges can no longer afford to continue to look the other way; they must draw lines and go to equity by taking recourse to self-defence or self-help. But it is trite that he who must go to equity must go with clean hands. The Judiciary therefore, must first get rid of the ‘’few’’ indulging in denting the images of the Judiciary.

    Ahuraka is the Media Aide to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed.

     

     

     

  • NJC’s self-help

    NJC’s self-help

    •In its conflict with the Rivers State governor, the judicial council should not undermine the law

    The National Judicial Council (NJC) in our view is yet again turning the wrong road in its struggle with the government of Rivers State, over the interpretation of the 1999 constitution, on the appointment of the Chief Judge of that state. That route as we had argued before is the abnegation of the fundamental bedrock of any democratic society, which is the rule of law, as against self-help. By resorting to administrative designs to overreach the judgment of Justice Lambo Akanbi, instead of filing an appeal as required by law, the NJC is applying strong-arm tactics, and this must be deprecated by all Nigerians.

    The recent press release by the council’s acting director of information, Soji Oye, reeling out decisions of the NJC which seek to effectively jeopardise the judgment of Justice Akanbi, is contemptuous of the High Court of Justice. This is so, regardless of the calibre of judicial officials who sat in that administrative agency of the Federal Government, the NJC, while that decision was made. For, in the exercise of its constitutional authority over judicial matters, with the Chief Justice of Nigeria as chairman, the NJC is unequivocally an administrative authority. This is in spite of the constitutional fact, that the same Chief Justice, sitting at the head of the Supreme Court in its appellate jurisdiction, is also the highest ranking judicial authority in the country.

    The expectation of the drafters of the constitution, in our humble view, is that in each circumstance, the express intent and spirit of the constitution will be the guide. So, while acting as the chairman of the NJC, the Chief Justice is expected to drop the garb and inviolable authority of the supreme judicial officer, as much as he is expected to robe himself in judicial insulation, with law and equity as the only eternal guide, regardless of whose ox is gored, in the discharge of his judicial functions. That is the sacrosanct expectation of the constitution, for to do otherwise, is to invoke anarchy in place of order.

    As we stated in our earlier intervention on this matter, the constitution in section 6(6)(b) clearly vests the judiciary with the authority to adjudicate disputes between administrative authorities when it provides that: “the judicial powers vested in accordance with the foregoing provision of this section, shall extend to all matters between persons, or between government or authority and to any person in Nigeria, and to all actions and proceedings relating thereto, for the determination of any question as to the civil rights and obligations of that person.” That is why we reiterate that the NJC should, instead of self-help, appeal the judgment of Justice Akanbi, which ruled against its executive prerogatives in the dispute.

    The NJC should be humble enough to appreciate that Justice Akanbi, sitting in his court is invested with the express provisions and intent of that section 6(6)(b); and that unless their members who are justices are robed and seated in their own courts, they are divested with that authority. But they must realise that to attempt to ridicule one of their own, in the discharge of his constitutional responsibility, is to subject and expose the sum total of their institution to contempt. So, it is in their self-serving interest to maintain the awe and sanctity of the courts. Also, as we had argued previously, the incongruity of a federal administrative agency, being imbued with powers to subjugate the state executive authority, over a matter that should be within the purview of the state, should be a matter of worry, in a federal system of government that we claim.