THE EMERGING JUDICIARY 

The judiciary is increasingly usurping the right of the people, contends Josef Omorotionmwan

The Nigerian judiciary is today at a crossroads but even when comments on the Nigerian judiciary are far from salutary, we shall resist rushing to the conclusion that all judges are bad. All one might say is that times are hard and the bad eggs in the judiciary must have increased commensurately.

From ages past and up till today, there have been judges in Nigeria who, no matter how hard times have been, would never be corrupted. At the same time, there have been judges who, in the midst of abundance, would put themselves on display, in the fashion of cash and carry. 

We remember the late Justice Oyemade of the Old Western Region. This was one incorruptible judge who, in the face of the hardest of times; and the greatest of pressure from all quarters – even with the lure of the ‘Cocoa Pound’; could not bow to any intimidation. He maintained that the judiciary was the last hope of the common man; and that when that was gone, everything else was gone. He would not be intimidated to send innocent people to prison, even if the Heavens fell

Today, there is the argument in some quarters that the corruption we see in some judges in Nigeria flows from their poor remuneration and unfavourable conditions of service. We totally agree that judges are human and must be paid wages that are commensurate with the services they render. Such wages must be decent enough to enable them to compete with other members of society.

Beyond that point, the argument falls flat. It presupposes that the Oyemades of the past were well remunerated, and the salaries of current judges have suddenly been reduced, and their conditions of serve made worse.

It is also not true that if we suddenly increased the salary of the average Nigerian policeman or the average judge, he would no longer accept bribe. 

On the contrary, it might also be argued that when the salary is increased, the bribe power also increases. The policeman who once accepted N20 at the checkpoint would up his bribe to N200; and the tribunal judge who once accepted a million Naira would up his game to billions and he might even demand that the new bribe should be paid in hard currency. 

There is a disturbing trend in the emerging Nigerian judiciary.  It is the total usurpation of the role of the electorate by the judiciary. A situation in which at every election, millions of Nigerians would come out in the rain and under the scotching sun to vote for their representatives in government, only to be vetoed later by seven odd people sitting in the comfort of their airconditioned courtrooms, is unacceptable. 

Unacceptable as this is, it has totally consumed our electoral system. It started slowly but gradually assumed a dangerous proportion. We shall only examine a few examples here; 

By the 2007 general elections, President Olusegun Obasanjo was already becoming over-bearing. He was all over the place, looking for whom to devour. He needed to be checked. 

Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi had clearly won the PDP primaries for the Rivers State gubernatorial election before Obasanjo stepped in to declare that Amaechi’s case had “K-leg”. Amaechi was pushed away and Obasanjo’s favoured candidate – Celestine Omehia – who had lost at the primary, was used to replace him. 

Amaechi went into hiding to quietly lick his wounds. He did not participate further in the electioneering process. Finally, Omehia was declared winner by INEC. 

Eventually, the Supreme Court intervened, as it were, to clip Obasanjo’s wings. To the Supreme Court, that victory was for the PDP and since Amaechi was the duly nominated candidate, even if his name was not on the ballot, he was the rightful winner of the election. 

Evidently, that was one correct step but wrongly directed. It was a case of displaced aggression. That was justice carried too far that it became gross injustice. The Supreme Court had justly cut Obasanjo to size, but in the process, the same court had unjustly stolen the role reserved exclusively for the electorate. Here, the court should have simply annulled that election, restored Amaechi’s candidacy, and asked the people to go back and elect their governor. Instead, the court assumed that candidates don’t count but parties do. This is a fallacy that has no basis whatsoever in political science.

This was the beginning of the disaster that has completely enveloped our nation. Whether it is a national or sub-national election, no one now rejoices over what looks like an election victory until the Supreme Court pronounces. 

The only role originally reserved for the electorate in our Constitution is now totally usurped by the judiciary.

See what Imo State has suddenly become? This was one state that was known for peace until January 2020 when the Supreme Court, by its magical logic, turned the Fourth to the First. Whether by accident or by design, since then, peace has eluded that state. The end is not in sight.

In the just concluded off-season election, the state improved on its 2020 records. We hear there was no election and that in virtually all parts of Orlu and Okigwe axis of the state, votes were simply allotted. That explains the miracle of the low turnout we heard of on election day, but at result time, the scores were humongous – very close to 100% level and in some instances, they had figures higher than the number of collected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). We cannot speak too loud here as the process has not yet been rubber-stamped by the Supreme Court. 

[Enter Senator Adolphus Obi Igbeke – ANPP | Anambra North].

This is one man who contested election to the Senate three times. The three times, he was rejected by the people at the poll. And the three times, he headed for the courts where he was awarded victory. 

Up in the Sahel, Hon. Dr. Bello Matawalle became the governor of Zamfara State, after losing abysmally in all the local government areas, and heading for the courts where, by the new technical mathematics, his opponent’s votes were consigned to the waste basket, and he was declared winner! 

In 2019, Douye Diri (PDP) contested the gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State. He was beaten to the second place – a distant second. He headed for the courts, where, in what was purely a pre-election issue, the table was turned over and awarded him victory. 

We are walking democracy on its head. In a real democracy, the right to choose who governs the people belongs exclusively to the people. Today, the judiciary has grabbed that power and run with it. 

Worst of all, commercialization and adventurism have set in. Is it by accident that in the just-concluded off-season elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States, it has been shown beyond measure, that incumbents can never be beaten. Evidently when money talks nobody walks.

The tenth Senate is not helpful either. Speed is good but accuracy is better. Eleven justices have just passed through the “take a bow” mill in what looks like doing in 11 minutes, what ought reasonably to be done in 11 days! Why the mad rush?

Omorotionmwan writes from Canada