Fighting corruption in the judiciary

That there is corruption in our Judiciary is well known and so cannot be news. More so, the judiciary is a part of Nigeria which friends and foe agree is “fantastically corrupt”. The issue of corruption in the judiciary is discussed in many political and economic circles. Indeed, the problem of the perception of Nigeria’s judiciary as corrupt is a major factor contributing to our poor rating in both the ease of doing business index and the global competitiveness index. Many Litigants, political and commercial complain of the cost of obtaining justice in Nigeria, prompting many to say that justice in Nigeria often goes to the highest bidder. What was not well known however is the depth and breadth of the corruption in the Judiciary. The other problem was, who will bell the cat? Though the current CJN has often raised the flag and criticized the conflicting judgements of the Appeal courts, nothing else seemed to happen.
Even President Muhammadu Buhari has publicly acknowledged that the Judiciary was a stumbling block in his anti-corruption campaign. Thus when last week the National Judicial Commission( NJC) under the leadership of CJN Mahmud Mohammed announced the indictment of three senior members of the judiciary for acts of corruption, my heart leaped for joy. One Justice of the Appeal Court who chaired the Election Appeal Panel in the Owerri Division on legislative electoral disputes arising from the 2015 election met with one of the litigants ( complainant) on three occasions in his residences in Sokoto, Abuja and Owerri and on each occasion he repeated his demand for N200 million bribe.
I was told that the man paid some deposit but the Justice failed to deliver the judgement in favour of the man. This may be because, he did not pay in full and the Justice did not trust that he would pay up after the case or perhaps the opponent offered higher bribes and paid in full or it could be that he could not get the other two Justices in his Panel to cooperate with him (these other two Justices were set free by the NJC)
The second Justice who is the head of the Appeal Court division in Ilorin was involved in what looks like a “419” business. He collected N200 million from a contractor, promising that he would get a purported female CJN to give him contracts but failed to deliver even a one naira contract! A senior appeal court Justice involved in fraud and deception! Only God knows what travesty he has perpetrated in the course of his career. He may have unjustly sent some innocent people to early graves. No wonder the NJC recommended him for prosecution in addition to dismissal from service. The third Judge who is the Chief Judge of Enugu State, refused to deliver judgment in a case that had been completed for over 126 days, perhaps waiting for the highest bidder; arrested a litigant in a case that had been amicably settled out of court and judgment entered. This arrested litigant had previously donated N10 million to the Chief Judge at his book launch. May be, he was angry that the man donated a paltry N10 million! God Help us!
I therefore wish to congratulate the NJC and CJN Mahmud Mohammed for this bold effort at redeeming the image of the Judiciary and showing that they are also fighting corruption. This is important to separate the chaff from the wheat, because I know that there are some fine and incorruptible Judges who are being unfairly tainted by the pervading corruption perception. But to speak the truth, there is still a whole lot more to be done. A lawyer friend of mine confessed to me that the corruption in the Judiciary has become metastatic and will require major surgical operations or long chemo and radiation therapy combined. If a Justice can be asking for N200d million bribe from only one litigant, how much does he make in one case? as there are at least two litigants in a case, and how much does he make in an electoral season? He said that some Judges lobby for appointment to election tribunals and election appeal panels the way some police officers lobby to be posted to highway patrols or some custom officers lobby to be posted to Tin Can Island or Seme Border or some politicians to ‘juicy’ ministries and boards.
The main difficulty in fighting corruption in Nigeria’s Judiciary is that,the affected litigants only petition when the Judge has failed to deliver as promised. Which is to say that if the Judge receives the bribe and deliver’s favourable judgment, no body petitions. That means that many cases will go unreported. The opponent who has been cheated only hopes that the appellate court will restore his rights.
But when we have Justices of the appellate courts who are asking for such sums as N200 million, what will be the outcome? Therefore, the CJN and the NJC should go beyond waiting for dissatisfied or cheated litigants to petition them before acting and go ahead to set up other measures first to prevent corrupt judicial officers from climbing the rungs and second to monitor the lifestyle of judges to identify those living above their means. They may wish to recruit the EFCC in this effort. We need to take every action to eliminate corruption in the judiciary which is often said to be the last hope of the common man. A man who can excercise power over the life of another man must be just!
Additionally, the Nigerian Bar Association will need to stop paying lip service to judicial corruption. Often, many of them are either accomplices or go-betweens. That is what Magu of EFCC told them recently. Of course, judges and justices arise from their membership. And lastly, let more Nigerians come forth with petitions and evidence to expose corruption in the judiciary. I believe that if we wipe out corruption in the executive and legislative arms of government and allow corruption to remain covered in the judiciary, we have achieved nothing, but if we make the judiciary corruption-free, then we have won the war against corruption in every other arm of government or segment of the Nigerian society.

Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa