Mr. Abdul Mohammed is a constitutional lawyer based in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. He had a stint of law practice with the law firm of Aluko and Oyebode before he eventually formed a partnership with Madyan Legal Consul in Abuja. AMEH EJEKWONYILO pinned him down at the weekend where he gave insights into the on-going strike embarked on by Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the controversial NBA elections among sundry other national issues. Excerpts:
Controversy over Abuja Bar delegates’ list
First, it is true. I went to the NBA meeting in April; I also attended the NBA Unity Bar meeting in May. By the provisions of the constitution it is in the month of April that the chairman is to draw the list of delegates from the pool of lawyers according to their year of call; from first year to five year they would have to single out one person, 6th to 10th year they would single out one, then 10th to 15th, 15th to 20th and finally 20th to 25th and above. However, it turned out that in the months of April and May the delegates’ list was not ready; and that is a clear breach of the Unity Bar’s constitution. It is not in doubt; the chairman did not abide by the provisions of the Unity Bar’s constitution in getting the list of delegates.
With the NBA elections looking more like political campaigns with allegations of the federal and states government sponsoring candidates, how can the Bar advise government on good governance?
Again, the whole allegation would stop at allegation stage as to whether or not the government participated and the contestants paid money. This is because there has yet to be any clear case situation where anybody has come out to say, ‘I was bribed X, Y, Z amount of money and that was why I voted.’ It is a two edge sword; the person would be admitting of collecting bribe which is a crime, then he would be indicting himself. You know our professional ethics stop us from being dishonourable, because that is a dishonourable conduct. You would hardly find anyone who would say I was bribed to vote X, Y, Z and I did vote for the person.
All said and done, whenever the NBA comes out after the elections; the NBA still carries out its mandate in policing the democratic process. The NBA still does its functions. Perhaps you could say ambition pushes NBA to breach some of the laws, but if you look at it generally you would find that the recent election everybody agrees that it was better than the last one. But it had some errors.
What do you think the in-coming NBA executive should do to streamline the said irregularities in the association’s electoral process and the Bar’s position on national issues?
This is a difficult question really. I wouldn’t say that the NBA has absolutely lost its voice. Perhaps I would say the NBA is not as critical as it used to be.
What is the impact of the ongoing JUSUN strike that has paralysed all the courts in Nigeria?
I was taken aback when I went to court last week and discovered that the gates were slammed. There are several domino effects to this strike. The greatest of it is fundamental human rights enforcement.
We are now all at the mercy of God. If any randy security operative decides to lock you up, he would do that and you have no court to run to for the enforcement of your fundamental rights. That is why the doors of the courts are expected to be open all of the time; even when courts go on vacation, there will be vacation judges because the doors of the court should always be open because that is the most time people’s rights are infringed on.
For instance, if I’m detained today by any security personnel, I will be detained for as long as the court is on strike. It will not even be that it is the security personnel that would enjoy the detention but the conduct of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN). That is the problem.
First, you don’t say I have to strike first to get the government to abide by an order. Once you take that as a solution then you have turned Nigeria into an unruly country; where there is no rule of law such that even orders of court must be enforced by might. And that is absolutely dangerous for the system.
You asked the question, associations and labour unions are formed to protect themselves with regards to their employment conditions. Is the payment of judicial service funds into the judiciary’s account an aspect of service of judicial workers? Absolutely no. So, they have no ground upon which to carry out the strike, and sustaining the strike is a pointer that Nigeria does not have rule of law.
It also exposes the entire citizens; litigants who would have gone to court to resolve their disputes will now have to look for alternative means; and any alternative means to judicial dispute resolution other than arbitration is unlawful. So, you see that they are going back to Hobbesian state; where maybe if I have a gun I might have to use it.
Then people whose cases are adjourned to those days that the courts are on strike will not have the right to be heard.
There is a step for enforcing judgment against the federal government, has that step been followed? No.
What are the steps in enforcing a court order?
There are two aspects; where the litigants are natural persons or corporate entities other than the government, when the court gives an order, if it is a money order then there is ‘garnishe proceedings’, writ of attachment, writ of sequestration, these are for enforcing money judgements. If it is an order for an act to be taken, there is what we call ‘contempt procedures’. Where the order is against the government, you merely need to notify the AGF, and request for his consent for you to enforce the judgment against the government.
What we are saying to simply write that the judiciary funds for the states have been approved but it is not released in bulk and the court says that it is contrary to the provisions of the constitution. Who is the person holding the monies, they executives of the various states. If the AG takes the order and does not carry it out then you go to the court. All the states in Nigeria have their funds in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the court will give an order which the CBN and other banks must abide. Where that is the case, then going on strike is not an option for you to enforce an order against the government. For private citizens there is contempt, while for government if you follow the procedures you will have the orders enforced.
