By Zik Gbemre
I was greatly amused recently, when a news headline in metro UK, reported how a Corrupt Judge had to be dragged out of Court to begin prison sentence. I could not help but wonder about Nigerian Judges, especially the ones that are known and allegedly corrupt, and how they have become “untouchable lords” who seem not to be answerable to anyone or the public. I could not help but wonder when we will mature as a nation to the point where corrupt Nigerian Judges are sent to prison, regardless of their titles, status and public clout in the nation’s Judiciary?
The said Juvenile Judge, Tracie Hunter, was reported to have begun her six months jail sentence recently, for illegally giving her brother, a former Government employee, confidential records to help him keep his job in Hamilton County, Ohio, USA. It was said that the packed Courtroom erupted into chaos after Judge Patrick Dinkelacker executed Hunter’s sentence, which she was first given in 2014, but had been delayed while Hunter appealed the conviction.
What I find quite interesting in this story is the somewhat little offence committed by the said Judge, to have warranted her being sent to jail. And look how long they sentence was delayed as a result of appeals, but it was finally delivered. That is something that is unheard of in Nigeria. If it is in Nigeria that a Judge did what the said Tracie Hunter did, it would not even been reported, or even noticed as a crime. Nigeria is a place where Judges are known to have committed far worse crimes of corruption at different levels and at varying degrees.
Remember Judge Brett M. Kananaugh, who despite the US Supreme Court Justice disagreement and the sex scandal against him that rocked the whole country for weeks, he was still voted to become the US Supreme Court Justice as the US Senators voted 50 to 48 to elevate him. While it was obvious that the US Senate did what they did to prevent it Judiciary to be influenced by politics, but If it were to be in Nigeria, such an allegation of sexual misconduct against a high-ranking Senior Judge, that took place over 36 years ago, will never be investigated at all because of the nature of the allegation and how long it was alleged to have happened.
Recall how some few years ago, some judicial Officers were directed to excuse themselves from office with effect from November 2, 2016 “to maintain the integrity and sanctity of the judiciary and sustain public confidence,” pending the determination of allegations of corruption and professional misconduct brought against them. Only for the National Judicial Council (NJC), which was Chaired then by the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, to have lifted the said suspension given to the said judicial Officers, who were directed to step aside on the advice of the then Attorney General and Minister of Justice. And we protested then in some write ups that the excuse given, that the “Council decided that the various Heads of Courts should direct the said judicial Officers concerned to resume their judicial duties with effect from June 7, 2017, as there are already backlog of cases in their various courts for the past eight months” – does not hold much water or justify the said recall. One would have expected that the cases of alleged corruption and misconduct brought against the said judicial Officers concerned, which led to their being asked to leave their seats, should have been pursued and concluded holistically with the appropriate force of the law. And not this “excuse” of “backlog of cases in their various courts” necessitated their being recalled. It was noted that out of the judicial Officers directed to excuse themselves from performing their official duties, only three then had been charged to court. While the trial of one was ‘suspiciously’ concluded and he was discharged and acquitted of the charges filed against him.
That is the sort of things we see in Nigeria. Let us also recall how some few years back, the Department of State Services (DSS) carried out raids of the homes of some Judges in Abuja and Port Harcourt because of allegations of corruption levelled against them. Though, a good and welcome development for democracy to succeed and justice guaranteed for the common man, but the said raids against Judges clearly exposed the sort of Judges we have in the Judiciary who have been hearing sensitive cases and giving obviously flawed judgements that were never in the interest of the Nigerian people.
Then there was the episode of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, who despite the fact that he was enmeshed in a false asset declaration scandal since January 2019, was given a slap on the wrist as the NJC accepted his early retirement, and the President also accepted it; giving him access to his ‘full retirement benefits’. This is a man who upon resuming office as CJN, reportedly failed to declare a domiciliary US Dollar Account, a domiciliary Euro Account, a domiciliary Pound Sterling Account, an E-saver aving (Naira) Account, all maintained with a Nigerian Bank in Abuja, as part of the compulsory Asset Declaration form. Onnoghen, 68, was actually due for retirement in 2020, but he turned in his resignation letter as CJN on April 4, 2019, to save himself from prosecution. And sadly, President Muhammadu Buhari and the NJC let him off the hook, and that automatically meant Onnoghen, as retired CJN, would receive N2.5 billion as retirement package. This to us, was not a good precedent and an example that would encourage the fight against gross corporate misconduct, especially in the nation’s Judiciary.
If a man who steals a goat is prosecuted and sentenced to prison by the Nigerian Judiciary and its Judges, then why should some of these Nigerian Judges/Judicial Officers, whose cases are far worse, be exonerated or given a slap of the wrist? What example are we setting before our younger-future generations by such acts? I strongly believe that people, regardless of their high positions and status in the Nigerian society and Judiciary, should be made to pay for the consequences of their actions, so that others will learn from it.
It is an established fact that in dealing with any case before it, the primary concern of any Judge should be the achievement of justice. If a mechanical application of the law to what is presented would result in injustice, then a Court must avoid that cause. But it is appalling, and a miscarriage of the nation’s Judicial integrity when we consider the sort of court judgements often delivered by Nigerian Judges on sensitive cases that have the propensity to affect/decide the fate and future outlook of the Nigerian masses. It is sad that despite its pivotal role in the fight against corruption in the country, the Nigerian Judiciary has over the years, been bastardized within its different levels with corruption of varying degrees. With a lot of Judges having one corruption charge or the other hanging on their necks, having compromised the standards, one then begins to wonder if we would ever witness a substantial progress in the fight against corruption in the country.
The status of Judges within a democratic system is sacrosanct because they are given the mandate to preside over dispensation of justice. If we look at the judicial oath when they appoint somebody to the bench, he swears to do justice to all manners of person without fears, affection or ill-will. They even have the power to sentence persons to death. They are like “thin-gods” on earth, and as such, some of them have become “uncontrollable”. If we look at the architecture of the courtroom, the Judge’s position is higher than that of every other person in the court. They are selected persons. But when they fall short of expectations of their high office, they should not be spared at all. They should be made to drink the hemlock. Face the music or burnt at the stake. It is as simple as that. Corruption is pervasive in Nigeria and it affects all facets of human endeavour. So, in the case of Judges, if they are found to have committed acts of wrongdoing or acts unbecoming of their high office, we owe it to posterity, to burn them at the stakes.
Zik Gbemre.
National Coordinator
Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)
