Judges’ Arrests: A Threat To Democratic Principles
In any stable democracy, there must be full implementation of the principles of Separation of Power and the Rule of Law. The principle of Separation of Power, as propounded or at least popularised by Baron de Montesquieu in 1748 basically divides the powers that exist in every sovereign state among three arms of government with each arm having separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility such that the powers of one arm do not come in conflict with the powers associated with the other arms.
The major aim of this principle was to ensure that each arm of the government checks and balances the others hence tyranny or dictatorship will be prevented. That is why when there is a rift between the executive and the legislative arms of the government; the judiciary comes in to settle the rift.
However, under the watch of this present administration, the executive arm has taken over the statutory roles of both the legislature and the judiciary. This madness started with the prosecution of the Senate President who is the leader of the legislative arm of our bicameral legislature over an alleged crime believed to have been committed twelve years ago. The trial judge in the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) once said that the trial would be on daily basis and would last from morning to evening.
The aim was to ensure that Senator Bukola Saraki would not have the minimum number of appearances in legislative sessions in order to pave the way for his impeachment. But Saraki’s lawyers, who knew their onions, outsmarted them and the case was later adjourned sine die. Having seen that the initial suit was counterproductive, the same people slammed forgery charges against the two leaders of the Senate especially as it became clear that the Deputy Senate President stood in for Saraki during all his appearances at CCT. In view of this, both senators Saraki and Ekweremmadu were arraigned alongside other accused persons though they were later granted bail while the matter continued until recently when they realised the madness and withdrew the charges.
What was Saraki’s sin except that his emergence as the Senate President was against the so-called APC zoning arrangement? Hence, the APC National Leader issued a statement after the National Assembly elections that ‘traitors’ would be dealt with. I published an article on the matter then where I asked who the ‘traitors’ in the National Assembly election were: those that insisted that their party’s agreement must lord it over the Nigerian Constitution or those that said no, that the supremacy of our Constitution as contained in S.1(3), CFRN 1999 as amended must be obeyed. Unfortunately, many Nigerian youths were brainwashed to believe that Saraki was corrupt and must be dealt with. Almost everybody hailed the action of the Federal Government in invading into a matter concerning an independent arm of the government. The senators were never allowed to investigate the alleged corruption charges levelled against their leaders so that if they were indicted, the Senate could commence the process of impeaching them as it is done in saner climes.
As if the onslaught on the legislative arm of the government is not enough, the judiciary is now treated to its own doses of executive brutality and intimidation. In sheer disregard to the Rule of Law and total invasion of the duties as well as responsibilities of the National Judicial Council (NJC), the men of the Department of Secret Service (DSS), swooped on the hallowed judges of our temple of justices in their private residents, in the presence of their bewildered wives (who apparently were still in their night gowns during the crackdown) and their children, maids, gatemen and guards.
The DSS came out to tell members of the Nigerian public that it was part of a ‘sting’ operation. Perhaps, they believed that they were addressing children in the kindergarten. One would ask what the major aim of sting operation is, if not to catch the perpetrator of a crime at the scene of the crime. But then, does it follow that DSS or any agency of the government should fight corrupt judges without following due processes? It is only in Nigeria that somebody can break a law in order to enforce another law. It was the same DSS that once detained the resident electoral commissioners of Rivers and Akwa-Ibom states during the governorship election tribunal and till today DSS has not charged any of them to court. It is an affront and total disrespect to the existence of NJC which the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) is the head, for DSS to clamp down on respected members of the bench and still maintains that they are a law-abiding organisation.
The national leadership of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) deserves some commendation for coming out to condemn in clear terms what it considers as unconstitutional and unconscious acts of the DSS headed by Mr President’s kinsman. Similarly, the judges who showed solidarity to their colleagues deserve some positive recognition as injury to one is indeed injury to all. These judges boycotted their courts on Monday, October 10th, 2016 including the valedictory session held on the same day in honour of Justice Suleiman Galadima, who has just bowed out of the Supreme Court.
The absence of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami and the body of benchers which is contrary to tradition shows a collective protest against administrative high-handedness. This is why lawyers say they are learned while others are only educated. If it were in my own profession when a doctor is kidnapped or police or their sister agencies arrest a medical doctor over a matter that should first be handled by a tribunal set up by Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), other doctors will be busy consulting in their clinics, running their ward rounds and operating in their different theatres because to them, the lives of the patients should come first before those of their colleagues.
As usual Nigerians have been brainwashed into believing that these judges are corrupt as charged. Just like the case of Saraki, nobody will genuinely tell Nigerians or own up to the fact that Saraki’s real ‘sin’ was his emerging as the leader of the Senate against APC arrangement and also allowing a ‘gentile’ in the person of Senator Ike Ekweremadu to be his deputy. To them, PDP members should hold no other posts in the senate except minority and deputy minority leadership positions. Nobody will ever tell us that Dasuki is paying for the role he played during the arrest of Mr President when General Babangida toppled his military regime. As Napoleon advised all politicians to put their iron fists in velvet gloves, these politicians have severally come out to hoodwink us that Dasuki is being prosecuted for the arms deal and many gullible Nigerians believe in that crap. The same thing goes for Nnamdi Kanu. The question now is this: how come DSS did not also arrest any of the judges who gave controversial judgements in favour of APC in their so-called sting operation? Below is a list of the true ‘sins or transgressions’ of the arrested judges which DSS will never tell us.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola
In the case of Nnamdi Kanu, this judge ordered the DSS to release Kanu unconditionally. He gave three orders that Dasuki be released. His orders were not honoured rather another charge was brought out to permanently hold Dasuki in detention, which makes the whole prosecution look more like a vendetta than the much touted ‘anti- corruption fight’ of Mr. President. Also, on March 26th 2016, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, Justice Ademola overruled Mr President’s preliminary objection in a suit filed by Barrister Nnamdi Nwokocha –Ahaiwe about Mr President’s WAEC certificate saga. The truth is that many Nigerians do not know that Justice Ademola is from a family of successful legal practitioners who cannot be pushed around. His grandfather, Adetokunbo Ademola, was a former Chief Justice of Nigeria. He is unperturbed and can never be cowed into giving judgements against his decision as a successful legal officer from a renowned ‘legal’ family of the Ademolas.
Justice Liman
Liman gave judgements which were not palatable to the Federal Government. He gave a judgement against Modu Sheriff which obviously was not acceptable by the ruling APC. Concerning the Rivers state rerun elections, Liman granted a restraining order that prevented INEC from declaring the ‘concocted’ results from Andoni, Bonny, Eleme, Gokanna, Khana and Tai local government councils of Rivers State. Obvious he must have stepped on powerful toes; hence, he is now tagged ‘corrupt’. If those senators who insisted that the Constitution and Senate rules should have pre-eminence over party decisions in the selection of the leaders of the Senate could be tagged ‘traitors’, it amounts to an understatement when the same people said that Justice Liman is corrupt. Perhaps, if they were more creative they would have coined something more odious to describe the man. This is indeed unfortunate.
Justice Ngwuta and Justice Okoro
Both Ngwuta and Okoro were members of an appeal that gave an unacceptable judgement to the APC changers; hence, both of them have been adjudged corrupt by the APC led government.
Justice Pingina
Pingina believed in justice and insisted on due process during the Rivers state gubernatorial elections tribunal sittings but he was removed in the middle of the process. Since, he was determined and refused to be cowed by the powers that be, he has also been now labelled ‘corrupt’ which is why his doors were pulled down not minding the fact that his name was never in the list of those marked for arrest.
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba
This intrepid legal officer touched the tail of a poisonous snake when he reprimanded the ‘almighty’ DSS officials and asked them to stop disobeying court orders. He did not stop there; he went further to warn the DSS to stop coming to his court if they were not ready to obey court orders. That might have angered the DSS hence they used the opportunity of the ‘lawlessness’ to break into his house manhandled his brother as a payback for all his ‘sins’. It was only when they were satisfied that they had done enough damage to his person that they eventually realised albeit belatedly that the paper they were holding never authorised them to arrest Justice Nnamdi Dimgba.
While the Buhari of 1984 can be pardoned in view of the fact that he was a young military junta, the Buhari of today deserves every criticism he is getting because he rode to power on the very back of Rule of Law and other democratic principles he now seeks to destroy. This is not withstanding the fact that those who sponsored his campaigns still reek with corruption except that EFCC and the DSS have chosen to turn a deaf ear to calls for their prosecution, a case in point being Amaechi and Fashola who were today rewarded with juicy ministerial posts against large public outcries.
If this government is ready to fight corruption as some people want us to believe and not that it is out for vendetta by bringing back the obnoxious styles of 1984, let the government tell us how it was possible for a serving army officer to use his personal savings to buy property in faraway Dubai while a two-time serving governor is not supposed to have a dime in his Zenith bank account as evidenced in the case of Governor Ayo Fayose.
Let this government come out and explain whether it is by coincidence or design that all the justices who have in the past delivered judgements against either APC or the Presidency were the ones arrested in the so-called sting operation. Let them come out and tell the whole world the type of grass that could be cut with about 270 million naira in the IDP camps not minding the fact that these IDP camps are populated by able-bodied men and women, hence little incentive ranging from food and a little stipend would motivate them to clear all the grass in the Northeast.
Let them tell us why they suddenly decided to withdraw the criminal charges against the former governor of Bayelsa State who is a staunch member of APC and all his assets initially seized by EFCC returned to him. Let them tell us how a ‘clueless’ Jonathan (as they made us believe) allowed Chief Fani Kayode, a strong member of Jonathan’s Presidential Campaign, to be standing trial during the last Presidential Campaign and the charges against him were never withdrawn by Jonathan administration but now, a former governor who is now a minister was indicted by a panel of enquiry in his own state and he has never been prosecuted and even his colleague whose prosecution was ongoing was recently asked to go home and rest and all his seized assets returned to him.
We are watching how this abuse of power will end. It started by a clamp down on all oppositions, especially members of PDP. It progressed to the National Assembly and now the port of call is the judiciary. Who knows who the next victim will be? Will Nigerians be surprised if we wake up one day and be told that the Chief Justice of the Federation, the Senate President and his counterpart in the House of Representatives are now in custody over trumped up charges of being corrupt? Until then, Nigerians will be flogged at bus stations like in 1984 and the executive arm of the government will be the one that will charge an individual for corruption and convict the person immediately. We are told that former governors are going to be tried, mark my words that will only be those former governors who have never defected to the ‘safe heaven’ called APC.
If educated Nigerian citizens could be so hoodwinked to be believe that our present economic recession was caused by Jonathan even when it was obvious that the government failed to devalue the currency on time or borrow against its assets, then we will soon welcome a country of one party system and where the other arms of the government will be perpetually subjugated and will be run as federal ministries by the executive arm.
Let us see how foreign investors will come in and invest in a country where the executive arm is the only functional arm and other arms must do the bidding of the executive arm or else their houses will be broken in the middle of the night and any judge before delivering any judgement must present it to the executive arm for proofreading and approval, failure of which he or she will be tagged ‘corrupt’ and subjected to the ‘sting’ operation. We are all watching how this whole drama unfolds.
Dr Paul John
Port Harcourt,
[email protected],08083658038