The problems of the judiciary are beyond it. Perhaps, they initially arose from the unrealistic public belief in its purity compounded by public expectations that even if there are no angels in the political kingdom, the temple of justice is sacred enough for angels to make it their abode. We expect our judges to rise above the common failings of humanity such as greed and graft in the necessary pursuit of the good life. No one is persuaded any more that it makes sense for men and women to believe they can pile up their treasuries in heaven and live wretchedly here on earth.
Corruption has a long arm because it is a common human affliction. Unrealistically, we expect the judiciary to be immune to it. Our judges, like the big men and women in the executive and legislative branches of government, are Nigerians in every respect. Like the rest of us, they want the same good things of life for themselves and their families. Therefore, they suffer from the same afflictions as their fellow Nigerians.
If the executive is corrupt, and it is; and if the legislature is corrupt,, and it is, it is not realistic for the public to expect the third arm of government to be the shining, lone star in the firmament of graft. It is not in the nature of human societies for the infected to entirely own the infection. Still, the outcry is loud. The judiciary needs urgent fixing to rid it of the rats and roaches. One good reason is that our trust in the judiciary has consistently been battered. From the recent action of the CJN under discussion, it is clear that those who run the system are as worried as the rest of us. That, I think, makes for a fairly easy approach to fixing the judiciary. Internal support of the institution for any such approach is to critical to its success.
No one should be unrealistic enough to expect a quick fix in fixing the judiciary. It is a huge and important institution. Past attempts to fix it were limited to a few retirements that made no impression on the bigger challenges facing the institution. Difficult as fixing the judiciary might be, if our political leaders leave things as they are, the weak would be at the mercy of the strong and the poor at the mercy of the rich. A nation with a weak or indifferent judiciary deserves some pity. A weak judiciary negates the essence of justice and the rule of law. Justice is not just a seven-letter word good for political sound bites at convenient times by our politicians. We keep our hope alive from the assurance that justice may be delayed but it will not be denied.
The bench and the bar are the twin arms of justice. One cannot work without the other; and if one is unclean, it must rub off on the other. The bar needs to be fixed too to save the judiciary. The NBA as an institution has both the professional and moral duty to police its members and keep them strictly within the path of professionalism and probity. You are not hearing it from me that lawyers manipulate the bench to suit their purposes and frustrate the dispensation of justice and the rule of law. They drag on cases, frustrate litigants and deny them justice.
The lawyers who took the ruling of the Port Harcourt high court to Kebbi and Cross River states knew what they did was wrong because they were fully aware that the Kebbi and Cross River courts were courts of coordinate jurisdiction with that of Port Harcourt and could not overturn the decision of the latter. When they chose to ignore this elementary fact of jurisprudence, they corrupted the system because they perverted the cause of justice. The judges who heard their case knew too that they could not sit as appellate courts. This particular case shows how senior lawyers in cahoots with malleable judges make our judiciary a laughing stock. Because of money.
The politicians are to blame for much of the corruption in the judiciary. They more or less own the courts with political cases being given priority. Criminal and civil cases must wait while the politicians use every trick in the law books to delay their cases for years – and deny others seeking justice their day in court. Almost every scandalous case is a political case. The exparte injunctions and contradictory rulings by courts of coordinate jurisdiction under reference were political cases. We are at the risk of losing the judiciary to the politicians. If do not pull back, our situation would become more brutish. We would be invited daily to see our rights trampled underfoot by those who wear Italian shoes.
Corruption in the bar and the bench is worrisome but here is a major source of worry for the country. The politicians have given the judiciary the right to determine the people’s representatives in the executive and the legislative branches of government. The fate of almost every election in our country is now in the hands of the judiciary. There were more than 1,800 cases arising from the conduct of the 2019 general elections. It has become the tradition for the judiciary to step in and, sometimes playing Chike Obi, give victory to a politician rejected by the people at the poll.
Under our form of government, the people elect their representatives in government and institute a government of their choice. It is a fundamental right as well as the cardinal principle of democracy. If there is a dispute in the exercise of that right or an attempt to abbreviate it, the judiciary is invited to intervene and ensure the full protection of the people’s choice. This intervention is necessary but it is usually the exception, not the rule. It is now the other way round – the rule not the exception – in our country. The danger is that the politicians buy their way into elective offices, desecrate the both ballot paper and the ballot box which are the veritable instruments of the people’s power in a democracy. With elections cases the way they are, the people lose the right to institute a government of the people by the people and for the people. The framers of our constitution did not envisage a government of the people by the judiciary for the people.
It is desirable that we rescue our judiciary from the firm clutches of the politicians but how to do it, is the billion Naira question. Fixing the bar and the bench must take this challenge into due consideration. The judiciary serves the cause of democracy; democracy does not serve the cause of the judiciary. When you frustrate litigants you also frustrate democracy. If the right of the people to freely institute their government through the ballot box is taken away and given to the courts, then democracy turns into a sham. Whatever importance we may attach to the judiciary, it is still a support institution.
(Concluded)
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