A BETTER KIND OF JUSTICE

 Josef Omorotionmwan argues the need to always put our best foot forward

Today, we want to examine the important subject of using what you have to get what you want.

At creation, God gave each one two hands, not to enable us to condemn one of the hands to permanent disuse, but to enable us to use each hand to our convenience. Yet, in many traditional African settings, the use of the left hand is ordinarily seen as a taboo. 

Nigeria is endowed with many brilliant lawyers – in the academia, in commerce and industry, and just everywhere. Yet, each time we want to appoint judges, particularly for our Courts of Superior Records, we restrict ourselves to the narrow confines of the Bench. At a time when entry into the Bench is fast becoming a family affair – a marathon of father to son; mother to daughter; and one family friend to another family friend (Nigeria) Unlimited – this and any other form of nepotism bears no good fruits anywhere; we may soon get to the point where we find ourselves simply recycling dead woods at the very apex of our judiciary!

The time to begin to seek ways of maximizing our opportunities is now.

Come to think of it, it beats our imagination that we live in contradistinctions – always short-changing ourselves. Given a clear choice between the best and the worst, we would invariably opt for the worst.

In the telling paragraphs of this essay, we talked about the two hands that God gave us at creation. From very early in life, though, we were taught that it was an abomination to offer something to, or receive anything from anybody, particularly the elderly, with the left hand.

No one ever dared to write with the left hand. It was only in Form III in the secondary school that we had this Math’s master who was left-handed. He was smart and solved all problems. He was in a world of his own. We appreciated him. We did not know his name throughout. We simply called him Leftie. 

At a point, we even formed a club called “The Alternative”. The club was meant to teach us to develop the use of the left hand in case the right hand became accidented in the journey of life. Only God knows what happened to the club after we left school.

Fast track to our sojourn outside Nigeria. Elsewhere, particularly in the United States of America (USA), it became clear that people understood the purpose for which God gave them two hands. In class after class, we found that people were ambidexters. In some cases, 75 percent of the people were Southpaws. The people were fast writers and fast readers. 

The message here is that our youths must be allowed to freely exercise their God-given talents. If the subject were sufficiently researched, it would surprise anyone how much a nation could lose by simply depriving citizens the free exercise of their God-given talents.

The way we short-change ourselves could be likened to a football team where 50 percent of the best players are deliberately stepped down from playing at every game. I have spoken severally of the acute drought in the ocean. We live in water, but we have no water to drink; we live in petrol, but we have no petrol to drive our cars; we are endowed with abundant human and natural resources, yet we remain the poverty capital of the world. Excellent human elements abound everywhere in Nigeria – I mean, movers and shakers of the world in every sphere.

Yet, in every election cycle, when we go out to elect a president, we spring on ourselves, one that is half dead and half alive. Why? Are we cursed? That takes us to the main kernel of today’s discussion. 

See what is happening in our judiciary vis-à-vis the appointment of the Justices of Courts of Superior Records, so called?

Unarguably, Nigeria parades, and it has always paraded some of the best lawyers on the surface of the earth. For a very long time, Nigeria supplied the needs of many African and Caribbean countries, when it concerned judges, chief justices and the finest jurists. Even now, both at home and in the Diaspora, many brilliant Nigerian lawyers are quietly making waves. 

Recently, about 25 students successfully graduated from the Law faculty of a Canadian university. On a close look, it was found that the 25 of them were Nigerians – proudly Nigerians!

In Nigeria, and everywhere, universities are replete with brilliant Nigerian lawyers – teachers of Law teachers! These lawyers of excellence are not in short supply in commerce and industry as well as in general law practice, and even in unemployment on our streets. This is the credit side.

On the debit side, Nigeria today has a judiciary on the decline – a judiciary that is at best, a shadow of its past.

We have spoken glowingly of the availability of brilliant legal minds in Nigeria. Despite all that, when it comes to appointments and upliftment to the appellate courts, we simply restrict ourselves to the narrow confines of the Bench. The avalanche of brilliant legal minds outside the Bar are thus constructively left out of consideration. And when it is not immediately convenient to fill existing vacancies from within the Bench, we must leave those vacancies unfilled until the convenience arrives. That is one way of explaining that for several years, 11 out of the 21 seats in our Supreme Court remained vacant!

Which other country in the world would have more than 51 percent of the seats in its apex court remain vacant when that country is not immersed in any major war? 

Towards the end of 2023, Nigeria decided that it was time to fill the vacancies wholesome. And that was the beginning of disaster. It was a big push towards the edge of a precipice. 

It was like a tug-of-war in which at the shout of ASHOBE, 11 justices were pushed up from the Court of Appeal to the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The names limped into the Senate before the close of business one fateful evening and by the forenoon of the following day, the nominations had been confirmed by the Senate in a Committee of the Whole, in what has become notoriously known as the “Take a Bow” procedure. Which other senate in the world would accomplish in less than 11 minutes, what should be done in more than 11 days?

In the name of helping the President, the Senate destroys the President and the presidency. We complain that our judiciary is on the decline. Wait till the trees we have just planted begin to manifest. Today, it is the exception that the judgment we delivered yesterday is totally different from the Certified True Copy (CTC) obtained from it. In due season, that will be the rule rather than the exception. 

Today, we are able to complain that our judiciary is fast becoming a Family Estate of Father to Son; and Mother to Daughter (Nigeria) Unlimited. Just wait till these trees begin to bear fruit. 

Certainly, we are gliding down a slippery slope! Who shall stop this emerging power erosion?

Omorotionmwan writes from Canada