On the heel of the recent arrests of some high court judges and justices of the Supreme Court, many Nigerians are beginning to question why they waited until this moment to assail the nation of allegations of bribery against some officials of the federal government. For example, Justices Sylvester Ngwuta and Ademola Adeniyi had separately alleged bribe offer and witch-hunt against some top federal government officials. It is however surprising that they kept mute when such alleged transgressions occurred.
Obviously this approach casts doubt on the veracity of such claims by our lords who are expected as arbiters in the temple of justice to be above board and live as shining examples to the rest of us. Is it not diversionary that having been confronted with their offences by the Department of State Security, that the judges now find it convenient to rope in other people as an alibi to escape the inevitable fate that may befall them?
It must be acknowledged that even while some people are questioning the justification for the night raids on the judges by the Department of State Security, the point must be made that the new Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 does not prescribe the time of the day that security operatives can arrest any individual for investigation or prosecution.
Again, apart from the Nigerian Police, EFCC and ICPC the Department of State Security also retain the power under the law to initiate an arrest, investigation or prosecution of any individual or group of people who they deem to have infringed on the laws of the federation.
Furthermore, the accused judges cannot in any way plead the protection of immunity under the law. Immunity is only granted to persons occupying such positions as president, vice president, governor and deputy governor. Apart from the persons occupying these exalted positions any other person is subject to arrest and prosecution by the security agencies.
What I see playing out is the novelty that the President Buhari administration has brought to bear in the unrestrained implementation of the laws of the land. While in the past, it was considered a taboo to even question a judge over any impropriety, the Buhari administration is poised to toe a different line to purge Nigeria of the malaise known as corruption.
While everybody agrees that the worst problem bevelling us as a people is corruption and lack of will to fight it, is it not curious that some people are now more concerned with the process rather than the outcome. Yet, it must be acknowledged that in carrying out their duties, the DSS followed due process and rule of law. For example they carried out the arrests with valid and legal search warrants. The judges were also not detained beyond twenty four hours as specified by the law. So why the hullabaloo?
To all intents and purposes it appears that there is a deliberate effort to introduce politics in the patriotic effort of the Buhari administration to wage a holistic war on corruption, and the accused judges have a duty to disprove otherwise. The intent to bring in extraneous matters into the allegations of judicial corruption will not augur well for the country, more so the fact that the judges ought to be in the vanguard of helping the Buhari administration to rid Nigeria of the cankerworm.
It is unbelievable that as notable law officers with requisite experience, they waited for months; even years to come up with revelations of some officials of government who made attempts to bribe them. Lest we forget it is unlawful for anyone to conceal information about a crime or intended crime, and it is expected that our learned judges are supposed to know better than the rest of us.
Nigeria can only make progress when people in the citadel of our justice system live above board and equally subject themselves to the same level of scrutiny which other Nigerians face. We cannot afford to lose the chance to straighten things out under the watch of President Buhari.
This is the first time that the judiciary is coming under scrutiny and some people are raising hell, but it is obvious that we cannot condone corruption anymore in Nigeria and for the campaign to succeed the judiciary must lead the way.
Again, this questions the inability of the National Judicial Council, a body charged with the responsibility of regulating the conduct of our judicial officers to sanction judges for not only professional misconduct, but also for any criminal breach against the laws of the land.
As a judiciary ombudsman, NJC can be accused of dereliction of duty as it seems they have over the years paid insignificant attention to the improprieties of some judicial officers, and the revelations from the DSS has proved this feeling among Nigerians to be true. It must be said that the lacuna created by the laxity in checking the activities of judges has not only incensed the sensibilities of Nigerians, but has necessitated the need for the security agencies to beam their searchlight wider in order to bring sanity to the judiciary institution.
As the war against corruption continues, all efforts should be geared towards ensuring that legal gymnastics or premeditated allegations are not used to undermine the determined efforts of the Buhari administration to restore sanity to the judicial arm of government.
Written by Chukwudi Enekwechi.
About the Author
