Gambia’s CJ decries rot in Nigeria’s judiciary
EMINENT jurists including the Chief Justice of The Gambia, Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, and two former Chief Justices of Nigeria have listed ways to the restoration of the glory of the Nigeria’s judiciary.
Their intervention is coming on the heels of a damning verdict passed on the judiciary by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher.
Justice Musdapher had last week noted that the Nigerian people are disenchanted with the performance of the judiciary and admitted that the sector needs a lot of improvement in the way it conducts its duties.
In a seeming response to this deficit, Agim and two former Chief Justices of Nigeria, Justices Muhammadu Lawal Uwais and Idris Legbo Kutigi and the Administrator, National Judicial Institute (NJI), Justice Umaru, prescribed a strict compliance with the code of conduct and judicial ethics as a means towards restoring the judiciary to its place of pride.
The trio, who spoke at the just-concluded 2011 All Nigeria Judges Conference in Abuja under the theme “Towards the Sustenance of Judicial Ethics in Nigeria,” admitted that corruption was prevalent in the sector and blamed it on the erosion of values and a flagrant disregard for judicial ethics and code of conduct for judges.
In his own speech, Agim, who is a Nigerian from Cross Rivers State, decried the continuing slide of the Nigerian judiciary as a result of corruption and non-compliance with the judicial ethics, suing for a re-orientation of judges and administrators of the country’s judiciary.
Justice Agim, 53, lamented that in Nigeria, “the rich and influential judge that is bereft of moral and intellectual integrity is now more respected both within and outside the legal profession,” declaring that this is very uncommon to The Gambian judiciary.
“The experience of The Gambia has shown that when judges live only on their legitimate earnings, they are morally upright and independent. This accounts for the absence of judicial corruption in The Gambia,” he stated.
He expressed pain that in Nigeria “with a very suspect system, many of its judicial officers engaged in corruption and money laundering for many years, amassing huge wealth and retired gloriously as celebrated judges,” he observed.
He said “that the problem of lack of judicial ethics refuses to abate and rather increases with each attempt at eliminating or controlling it, is a matter of grave concern that warrants decisive and sincere urgent action to restore strict adherence to judicial ethics.”
Agim noted that “the Nigerian judiciary can only remain healthy and capable of advancement if it follows up its realisation of the need to deal with the problem of eroding judicial ethics with sincere, objective and decisive action to stem the erosion and revive best judicial practices.”
In his own remark, former Chief Justice Kutigi noted that the “judiciary appears to be sending out unpleasant signals about its images and of course integrity. Public confidence in the judiciary is seriously ebbing as a result of this, and this to me is most antithetical to the administration of justice.”
Kutigi warned that “a situation whereby judicial ethics and by extension code of conduct for judicial officers are often disregarded and/or discarded in the conduct of affairs, would certainly portend a danger for the institution and the society at large.”
He declared that “the unfortunate events in the recent past were largely due to noncompliance with the already laid down ethics, rules and procedure by judicial officers. Little wonder, therefore, on almost daily basis, we see screaming headlines in newspapers raising questions which border on breaches of ethics and integrity of judicial officers.”
He said: “I feel it is honourable to admit that things are not as they ought to be. As it stands today, it is evident that the society in which the judiciary performs is not entirely satisfied with its performance.”
In his keynote address, Justice Uwais said it was not for nothing that Section 290 of the 1999 Constitution made it mandatory for a judge upon appointment to take the judicial oath before beginning to perform the functions of the office.
He said this laid the foundation of judicial ethics in Nigeria and advocated a culture of strict compliance with the said judicial oath in order to evolve a strong, virile and credible judiciary.
Speaking earlier, NIJ’s Administrator, Justice Umaru Eri, said the theme “Towards the Sustenance of Judicial Ethics In Nigeria” was picked in response to the challenges in the sector and urged all participants to tap from the rich papers that would be delivered by seasoned resource persons.
