The media recently reported that a non-government organisation (NGO), Campaign for Judicial Integrity, has written a petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC) over an order by Justice Anuli Chikere of the Federal High Court over the impending election of the person to represent the Anambra Central zone in the Senate. An election was scheduled to hold on March 5, 2016, to fill the post which became vacant following the Court of Appeal’s judgment of December 7, 2015, removing Mrs Uche Lilian Ekwunife from the Senate because she did not participate in the primaries leading to the nomination of a candidate representing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the March, 2015, general election. The lady, capitalizing on her closeness to former First Lady Patience Jonathan, had got State House to instruct Prince Arthur Eze, a controversial government contractor, to send her name to the party headquarters as the PDP candidate for the election. This action was contrary to the Electoral Law. Therefore, the Court of Appeal removed her from the Senate following an action by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Chief Victor Umeh.
As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was set to conduct the election on March 5, 2016, having issued the public notice to that effect on February 1, 2016, Justice Chikere ruled that the PDP must be included in the election. Since it was too late to include a fresh candidate in the election, INEC postponed the vote indefinitely. Meanwhile, INEC announced it would head for the Court of Appeal to set aside the Chikere judgment which it considered very strange because it is unprecedented in our history that a party which does not have a candidate any more should be included in a rerun election. Both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court have ruled in various instances that a fresh candidate cannot participate in a rerun election unless the original candidate of the political party which he or she represents is dead. In the case of the PDP candidate in the Anambra Central senatorial election in the 2015 general election, Mrs Ekwunife, she did not die. But she has resigned from the party and joined the All Peoples Congress (APC). Against this background, it came to no-one as a surprise that the Campaign for Judicial integrity, based in Lekki Peninsula, Lagos State, has written to the NJC to investigate the ruling. It does not look like an ordinary judicial _faux pas._
Indeed, these must be the most trying times for the noble Nigerian legal profession. To paraphrase Nigeria’s first president, The Right Honourable Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, PC, GCFR, these are times that try men’s souls. Whether in beer parlours, in the mass media or among lawyers or retired judges, stories of pervasive corruption by serving judges are rampant. For the first time in Nigeria’s history, senior lawyers, including Ricky Tarfa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), are being tried in the court for allegedly bribing judges. President Muhammadu Buhari says the greatest obstacle to his fight against corruption is the judiciary. It is doubtful any Nigerian could contest the statement.
In recent times, a month has hardly passed without the National Judicial Council (NJC) recommending disciplinary actions against some judicial officers. For example, last March, it placed Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia on watch list, apart from banning her from elevation to the higher bench for misconduct. The judge, who last year freed former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode of all the grave charges of corruption against him, refused to give judgment in a pre-election matter before her until the tenure of the office which Victor Ayeni of Ogun State sought had elapsed. The following month, the NJC recommended to the Lagos State governor to retire immediately Mr Justice O. Gbajabiamila from the state judiciary for professional misconduct. Justice Gbajabiamila had refused to give judgment in a case until December 34, 2013, that is, a whole 35 months after written addresses were taken and 22 months after evidence was closed. To exacerbate matters, a copy of the judgment was not available until 40 days after the judgment was delivered, contrary to the law which stipulates seven days.
Just a few days ago, the NJC recommended to the Cross River State governor to quickly separate Justice Bassey T. Ebutu from the state judiciary in public interest. He was found guilty of abuse of office, misconduct and confiscation of property. He was investigated following a petition by one Dr Cobham of Calabar.
One thing which has come out crystal clear from the various investigations into the rot in the judiciary is that women are not left out of the mess. Mention has already been made of Justice Ofili-Ajumobia who is now on the NJC watch list. But there is a more serious case of corruption which is being investigated. It involves Justice Uwani Abba-Aji whom SaharaReporters, quoting sources in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) sources on Monday, April 25, 2016, reported as collecting N8million from the controversial SAN, Ricky Tarfa. Another female judge has been reported to have one billion naira in cash in her bank accounts, plus several eye popping properties scattered in expensive cities with high property values
The petition against Justice Chikere adds to the public concern about the integrity of our female judicial officers at a time there is a sustained clamour across the country for the appointment and election of women into high public office. Every lawyer I know is surprised that Justice Chikere should give an order for the inclusion of a fresh candidate in a rerun election when the original candidate is still alive but has only left the party. It is trite law that this is not possible. When the Labour Party in Adamawa State sought in 2007 to change its gubernatorial candidate in a rerun election, the Court of Appeal ruled against it, noting that even in the event of a fresh election a political party could change its candidate only within 60 days to the vote. In the famous case of Tunde Isiaq and Okanlowon Soniyi, also in 2007, the Supreme Court declared pointedly that only candidates who took part in the earlier election could participate in the rerun election except in case of the death of an original candidate. This is why the APC could present a fresh candidate to contest last year in the Kogi State governorship election when its flag-bearer, Alhaji Abubakar Audu, died. But, as one has said earlier, the PDP candidate in the Anambra Central senatorial election, Mrs Ekwunife, is still alive.
The time has really come for security agencies to investigate why some judicial officers give judgments which bring the Bench into opprobrium. No one seems to believe that the order by Justice Chikere was an innocent mistake. It is not enough to punish erring judges. Those who caused them to misbehave should be punished, too.
Written by Rosemary-Augustine Mogekwu, LL.M
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