JOHN NWOKOCHA examines the objectivity question in the bribery saga caused by the arrest of some Supreme Court judges allegedly involved in corruption
Yesterday, Wednesday, October26, a coalition of over 50 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), gave the National Judicial Council (NJC) a one-week ultimatum to suspend all the judges arrested by the Department of State Service (DSS) over allegations of corruption.
A mammoth crowd of members of the NGOs stormed the Supreme Court and the National Assembly Complexes in Abuja, demanding that all judges arrested by the DSS on October7 in what they termed sting operation, to step aside pending the outcome of their trials in court.
The protesters who organized themselves under the Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations in Nigeria (FONGON) ostensibly expressed their displeasure via their placards with various inscriptions, some of which read: “Stop corruption before it stops you;” “Don’t get it twisted, Judiciary is not on trial, only corrupt officials are” and “Justices are to interpret the law, they are not empowered to interpret hard currencies”.
Chairman of the Forum, Comrade Wole Badmus, reportedly decried the refusal of the security operatives to grant his members access to the Supreme Court. He said that the group had already articulated its demands in a letter to the NJC.
Alleging that the NJC is playing double-standards by refusing to suspend the arrested judges, Badmus noted that NJC had, in the past, suspended some judges for offences less grievous than what “this crop of judges is being accused of.”
Because of this accusation Badmus insists that the coalition would disrupt activities of the judiciary arm of government in various courts if the NJC fails to suspend the arrested judges so they can step aside and face prosecution.
Furthermore, the chairman who said the NJC’s refusal to act appropriately would only serve to encourage corruption in the judiciary, added: “Judicial corruption is worse than economic corruption. A judge that frees a corrupt person or a thief after being compromised is only asking the thief to go and continue stealing.
“From year 2000 till date, about 73 judges have been suspended by the NJC but none of them has been prosecuted all these years, what kind of double standard is this?”
According to him, it was wrong for the NJC to defend the accused judges when in the past it had had cause to remove other judges pending the conclusion of investigations into allegations of corruption leveled against them.
It would be recalled that in a nationwide crackdown, the Federal Government last night began rounding up judges suspected to have aided and abetted corruption in over the years. The affected judges were detained in relation to allegations that they took huge cash to pervert the cause of Justice before, during and after the 2015 general elections.
The embattled judges include Justice Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court; Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja; Kabir Auta of the Kano High Court; Muazu Pindiga of Gombe High Court, Mohammed Tsamiya of the Court of Appeal in Ilorin, and the Chief Judge of Enugu State, I. A. Umezulike. Although the judges have been released from detention, the federal government is bent on their judicial trial which according to the Minister of Justice and Attorney –General of the Federation, will commence next week.
The polity has been divided along party line mainly, with more accusations and counter- accusations and much of the counter accusations linking Minister of Transportation and former governor of Rivers state, Chief Chibuike Amaechi, corrupt practices. The minister was accused of attempted bribery of some judges in the governorship election matters that were before the appellate court. In fact, the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), took a bold step and called on Amaechi to resign his position, arguing he lacks the moral justification to remain in office as a minister.
Meanwhile, the judges are pointing at the AGF, Amaechi and the ruling APC as being behind their travails.
According to Justice Ademola, the AGF, Abubakar Malami was behind his ordeal, saying it was a case of vendetta and ‘revenge’.
Ademola, who narrated how 45 DSS operatives invaded his residence and ‘abducted’ him, claimed he once ordered the detention of Malami for alleged professional misconduct.
He further alleged that he was forced at gunpoint to sign the inventory of items DSS claimed to have recovered from his residence.
Ademola revealed this in a report to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, added that 45 DSS operatives picked him up without any warrant of arrest.
But the AGF last night said he will “not join issues with Justice Ademola in order not to jeopardize ongoing investigation.”
“The judge should allow the law to take its course instead of clinging to the last straw to defend the allegations against him,” he said through a spokesman.
Justice Ademola in an October 11, 2016 letter to the CJN expressed regrets that he was ‘abducted’ on October 7 by DSS operatives.
Hear Ademola in the October11, 2016 letter to the CJN: “What is more intriguing in this whole episode, is that I see it as a vendetta/revenge from the Hon. Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) whilst I was in Kano between 2004 and 2008. As a Federal High Court Judge, he was involved in a professional misconduct necessitating his arrest and detention by my order. However, with the intervention of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Kano branch, the allegation of misconduct was later withdrawn by me.
“Consequently, the National Judicial Council ( NJC) referred Abubakar Malami (SAN) to the NBA Disciplinary Committee for disciplinary action. It was as a result of this he was denied the rank of SAN by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee for a period of four years until when he produced a fake letter of apology, purportedly addressed to me.
“It was then he was conferred with the rank. Since the above incident, Abubakar Malami (SAN) has threatened to revenge, and swore to do anything to bring me down.”
Consequently, Ademola, the trial Judge in the Col Dasuki Sambo rtd, $2.1bn arms gate trial handed off the case file to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, explaining that his decision was guided by the allegations leveled against him by DSS.
As for Justice John Iyang Okoro, of the apex court, he claimed that Amaechi told him (Okoro) that President Buhari gave directives that the justices of the Supreme Court must ensure that the APC wins its election appeals in respect of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Abia states, at all costs and that if the ruling party lost in Akwa Ibom, where he (Amaechi) sponsored the candidate, he would have lost a fortune.
On his part, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta stated that his refusal at various times, to help the APC to pervert justice in the governorship election disputes involving Ekiti, Rivers and Ebonyi states was responsible for his ordeal.
In a letter dated October 18, which he forwarded to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Mahmud Mohammed and the National Judicial Council (NJC); he specifically alleged that the minister had attempted to bribe him, and that after the Supreme Court affirmed the Election of Governor Nyesom Wike, his predecessor, Amaechi also called him (Ngwuta) on phone and said “Oga is not happy.”
However, reacting to the allegations, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Salihu Isah, the AGF said: “The Minister of Justice will not join issues with Justice Ademola in order not to jeopardize ongoing investigation.
“The judge should allow the law to take its course instead of clinging to the last straw to defend the allegations against him. At the end of the day, justice shall prevail. He should let the ongoing process take its full judicial course.
“Having sworn to an oath to do good to all, the AGF has no cause to embark on vengeance or intimidation of any judge or any Nigerian.”
Also responding to the development, the Rivers State chapter of APC has stood in stout defence of the minister, as it dismissed the calls for his resignation by PDP, saying the former governor is clean of the accusations of trying to influence the rulings on some election petition cases.
Similarly, the Enugu State chapter of APC defended Amaechi and his counterpart in Science and Technology ministry, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu over bribery allegations by Okoro and Ngwuta.
For now, the allegations and counter- allegations linger, but as more revelations unfold, observers expect the federal government being controlled by APC to demonstrate that is not selective in the anti- corruption fight. More importantly, observers have interrogated the objectivity in judges’ arrest and challenged the government to show is not playing partisan politics which, in the long run will rubbish its stance on corruption. Surely, from the look of it, it’s difficult to separate politics in the bribery saga amidst deafening outcry and confusion, but the coming weeks would tell as the matter plays out.
Surely, from the look of it, it’s difficult to separate politics in the bribery saga amidst deafening outcry and confusion, but the coming weeks would tell as the matter plays out
