Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Joseph Bodurin Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), last Friday threw his weight behind the deployment of the military in the conduct of the forthcoming general elections in Nigeria. He spoke with judiciary correspondents at an event held at his chambers in Abuja in honour of 2015 externship Programme for students of the Nigerian Law School posted to his law offices in Abuja, Kaduna and Zaria. The prominent jurist also noted that INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, would remain until the polls are held. AMEH EJEKWONYILO reports.
What are your thoughts on the recently embarked strike action by Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN)?
The strike action embarked upon by JUSUN became strange and an anathema for people who were supposed to protect the interest of their members to be advancing the interest of their employers. So, from that point they lost it.
And doing so in a way and manner in which was counter-productive; they shut up the courts prevented people from gaining access. These are public buildings, and if you were relying on a judgment of a court; shutting down the courts is not one of the ways in which you enforce a judgment. You enforce your judgment by use of the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act.
And when I investigated I found that there was something very suspicious about it and my release documented and itemized. First of all, it came closely after the primaries had closed, elections were at hand and to shut down the court was in the interest of certain politicians who were boasting that the wrongful substitutions they did would never be questioned by the courts because the courts will be kept under lock and key.
And you and I know that the system is such that people can give any anything for this kind of thing. But we are not even concerned about that. What we are concerned about is in advocating for a self-financing judiciary, you need time to set up the structures. First of all, at one point in time one judge was heard saying that, ‘what the provisions of section 121 (3) or section 81 requires is that once the money is budgeted you should just transfer it to the judiciary.’ That shows absolute ignorance.
A budget as it is, is not backed by the money. It is a proposal that when money comes, it will be distributed in this manner, in that manner. Now, for a judge to think that once you have a budget , the entire money is in, shows that he has a clear ulterior motive to what he wants to do with those funds.
There are also issues which the judiciary is not well suited for. The judiciary does not have a public procurement unit. Most of the states have public procurement laws, and there are public procurement laws for the centre. How do you harmonise them, because as soon as monies are sent people would want to give contracts or do this or that. And we have in some states where the judiciary has awarded contracts; awarded contracts to incompetent architects; ‘on man know man basis.’ So much money has been spent; nothing has been seen about it.
So, rather than arm-twist people, strangle the society; it is something that the building blocks of democracy are laid very carefully and precisely. And if you do not put the structures in place, you will just find a situation whereby in this kind of primitive system of acquisition of wealth that we engage in, one Chief Judge will just say one day that he wants to contest for governorship, because you have given him enough money to be able to rival the governor. So, you must put in the parameters for checks and balances.
If for the first sixteen years, we have allowed politicians to loot our treasuries and render us impoverish, from this point onwards, we are not prepared to tolerate that kind of non-sense. So, we are going to start indoors. So, we think it is not the Judiciary’s business. And when the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) now stepped in, there are now committees that have been set-up to ensure that when monies come in, you and I know that if you don’t have the right people in the committees they can be bought over. It only means that the cost of sharing will be high. So, that is why I took the position I took.
It is just like my views on state police. I have since modified it; that it must be a gradual thing, seeing what the politicians are using other apparatus they have in their states.
One issue that is engaging the attention of all and sundry is this issue of the legality or constitutionality of deploying the military for the purposes of elections. Is it constitutional?
I am familiar with the issues of security in relation to election matters. And I will answer you precisely. The military are not deployed to participate in election matters; they are however deployed because there is a sensitive situation at stake, and they will be located in positions where they can be called at short notice to keep law and order.
But I don’t think you will see military people at polling stations, we have been given that assurance. But military people will be available because of the threat of Boko Haram in areas where they can rapidly and swiftly deploy so as to counter insurgency and other threats of terrorism and militancy.
It is part of the traditional duties of the military to assist in keeping internal security. So, they haven’t gone outside the constitution. They will not be at polling stations to keep orderly lines, to whip people with their belts or do other things that they had been previously associated with.
What is your view on the purported plan to sack INEC’s Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega?
I think that information is within the realm of what they call, ‘beer parlour gist’. Jega’s tenure expires on June 30 this year. By that every conceivable election would have been conducted.
Now, the question of terminal leave applies only to the civil service. And it is optional. But he runs and organisation that does not go on leave and does not proceed on transfer.
It is a ‘military service’. So, they don’t talk about leave in Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), because at every point in time, they are either conducting bye-election or conducting elections. So, people who are bringing that up is a matter of wishful thinking.
‘That oh maybe because we are below or behind in the opinion polls, some miracle may happen. Jega is not going anywhere; he remains till June 30, when he will finish and hand over. If they like, they re-appoint him for a second term.
What is your position on the use of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs)?
This is the first time it will be used. Nobody can really have any view either for or against unless you put it to use and it works or disappoints. In India where it has been used, I think they are quite happy with it. And all that we are praying is that the card readers will work. It is not a complicated process and it makes things faster at the polling stations. We are praying that it will work as planned.
