In Defence of Judiciary, Fagbemi Warns Politicians to Stop Unfounded Insinuations against Judges

*Asks aggrieved parties to bring evidence of perversion of course of justice

*Says he won’t succumb to blackmail 

*Akpata tells Appeal Court president to provide clarification on ‘clerical error’ in Kano judgment 

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

Worried by the widespread criticisms against the judiciary over a series of judgments in recent times, particularly on election petition cases, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagemi (SAN) has warned politicians against making unfounded allegations against judges.

The minister’s admonishment is coming as a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olumide Akpata, has called on the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, to provide “cogent clarifications” on the “clerical error” in the Kano State governorship election judgment.
Fagbemi, who urged those criticising the Nigerian judiciary to bring evidence of the perversion of the course of justice against judges, vowed that he would not succumb to cheap blackmail.

Speaking yesterday with journalists in his Ijagbo country home in Oyun Local Government Area (LGA) of Kwara State on the sideline of the special prayers organised in his honour by the people of the town, AGF also advised politicians that lost out at election petition tribunals not to throw caution to the wind.
 He added that anybody who has concrete evidence against any judge should feel free to bring forth such evidence.

“You lost at the tribunal; you lost at the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court, yet you are insinuating foul play.
“I think even apart from law, morality also demands that you take the outcome as it is,” Fagbemi said.
He added “I am not saying that judges cannot be wrong because they are human beings.
“Where anybody sees or feels that the course of justice has been perverted, the person should feel free to bring it forth rather than making unfounded insinuations.

“Unless you can bring forth concrete evidence, I will not succumb to blackmail. Nobody will shield an erring judge.
“One thing about justice is that the man who wins will praise the judgment. The person who loses will never agree that he has lost fairly unless you give him the judgment.
“Don’t forget, when you make unfounded insinuations, you are dragging the name of the nation in the mud,” the minister added.
He urged “all and sundry to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship.”

Speaking on judiciary reforms at the venue of the prayer session organised by his siblings and the entire Fagbemis, the AGF revealed that he had used the platform of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) to make the governors come on board.
He added that the federal government would also engage judges at both federal and state levels.
“What I have done is to seek the platform of NGF to address all the governors in Nigeria as to what they are required to do if anything is being done at the level of the federal government.

“We expect that the state within their limited resources will let into it.
“Another thing is that we need to engage the judges because it is one thing to make laws; it is another thing to administer it.
“We also need to engage the chief judges, especially at the state level. We need uniformity without necessarily turning the country into a unitary system,” Fagbemi explained.

The minister, however, enjoined Nigerians to give President Bola Tinubu a chance to turn around the fortunes of the country.
He added that President Tinubu is not looking at the immediate benefits of his efforts but the long-term benefits.
“That is why I appeal to all and sundry to give him the chance.

“He is a man who is ready to do the thing. It takes a while to see the full effect of his efforts.
“He (Tinubu) is not the one who created these problems in Nigeria, but he is not complaining. President Tinubu is somebody who wants to work. He is prepared to do the job. He is not somebody who is just learning the job. He has done it before in Lagos State. I am not equating Lagos with Nigeria.
“Immediately after his swearing-in, he has been all out to seek investors’ buy-in. As a result, positive responses have been trailing his discussions with foreign investors.
“The only thing we need is to exercise some patience. Even if you plant a tree, it won’t grow into fruition until after a while,” he added.

Akpata Tells Appeal Court President to Provide Clarification on ‘Clerical Error’ in Kano Judgment

Meanwhile, a former President of the NBA, Akpata, has called on the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dongban-Mensem, to provide “cogent clarifications” on the “clerical error” in the Kano governorship election judgment.
The appellate court in Abuja had affirmed the verdict of the Kano State governorship election petition tribunal, which sacked Governor Abba Yusuf, candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), as the governor.

However, the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment contained contradictory resolutions, with the judge ruling in favour of, and against the governor, at the same time.
However, the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Mr. Umar Bangari, said the purported discrepancy was a clerical error that did not affect the court’s final decision.

Reacting in a statement yesterday, Akpata stated that during his tenure as NBA president, he had openly queried the “sub-optimal manner” in which potential justices of the Court of Appeal were being screened and had warned of the potentially negative and detrimental consequences.
The former NBA president said since the end of his tenure, he had at different times revisited the issue of the sub-optimal recruitment process.
He said his position had been vindicated by recent occurrences in the judiciary, with the latest being the discrepancy in the CTC of the Kano State governorship election judgment.

He said while the court’s Chief Registrar has attributed the discrepancy to clerical error, which is a possibility, the fundamental nature of the error and “the impact it has on such a consequential part of the judgment, make it extremely difficult to accept”.
“It is for this reason that I urgently call on the PCA (President of the Court of Appeal), My Lord, Hon. Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, as the Head of the Nigerian Court of Appeal to provide, for the benefit of Nigerians and, indeed, the world, a hopefully cogent explanation and clarification of this quagmire,” the statement said.

“It is the very least My Lord can and should do in the circumstances.
“It is imperative that His Lordship makes a categorical statement on this matter because the stakes are way too high and the current situation in the judiciary (and indeed the country) too dire for the issue to be left in the hands of Registry officials,” Akpata added.