Corruption in Judiciary: What becomes of common man?

By Kayode Adeoti

If judiciary is destroyed, what becomes of the common man who has made it his last hope? The recent prevalence of corruption in the Nigeria judiciary has called to question the credibility and nobility of the sector.
The above question became pertinent given the fact that same members of the bar and bench have sacrificed their professionalism on the altar of bribery.
Though it’s widely believed that corruption is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabrics of every sector in Nigeria but the judiciary, according to belief of the public, should be above board.
An academic survey recently conducted by the immediate past Deputy Director General and Head of Campus, Nigerian Law School, Professor Ernest Ojukwu SAN, ranked bribery of judges as the biggest problem confronting the sector.
The survey was conducted at various conferences, and  NBA meetings late last year where it captured the views of 578 lawyers from across the country.
According to the survey, bribery of judges remains the biggest issue discrediting the sector.
As part of the corruption practices, the survey revealed the use of delay tactics by lawyers, bribery of court officials, lawyers’ active role in disobeying court orders/blocking enforcement of orders and judgments; rudeness and impolite attitude among lawyers.
The respondents were given a form containing a list of 45 ethical challenges and issues and were asked to tick which ones were of concern to them.
Out of the 1,000 forms given out, 578 were filled and returned. Among the 578 respondents, 190, representing 32.87 per cent, ticked bribery of judges as a problem they want tackled in the judiciary.
Also mentioned on the list of most worrisome unethical issues bedevilling the sector, was the issue of prosecutors who take money from defendants and institutes’ frivolous charges or a lenient charges.
According to the survey, such prosecutors would vehemently “oppose bail when not paid; but would not oppose bail no matter how serious the charge may be or how simple for the defendant to jump bail as long as money has been paid.”
Speaking with Pilot Law on the issue yesterday, Head of Department at the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Professor Muhammed Mustapha Akanbi, noted that corruption in legal cycle is as a result of breakdown in governmental system, adding that there is no sector that is rid of the menace in the country.
Among the numerous sectors in the country, he submitted that judiciary fares better, saying those aiding unethical practices are in minority.
“Recently, some groups of legal practitioners in the country protested against the practice. Their reason was that the National Judiciary Commission (NJC) should address the issue. Those penetrating the act were in the minority, they should not destroy the legacies built by sweat of some selfless elders in the system.
“The NJC has seen the development as germane that is why they listened to complaints and taking necessary actions now,” he stated.
Speaking further on the issue, Akanbi said the offence of corruption cannot be established on the Federal High Court judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola who was retired recently.
According to him, it will be very embarrassing to see the sitting judge in the dock over corruption allegation. If NJC feels he still needs to be tried, he can be recalled to face the law.
A legal Juggernaut in the state, Yusuf Olaolu Ali, SAN, yesterday told Pilot Law that people at the helm of affairs in the country must join force to fight corruption holistically.
“It underpins my view that we’ve not started any battle against corruption in this country. We are still behind. For us to be able to do anything about corruption in Nigeria, we have to be systemic, methodical, thorough, and patriotic, we must not be partisan about it, we must be transparent, if we don’t have all these in place, what we are doing so far will amount to dancing around the fence. My view is that when a public officer is caught for corruption, he should not be dismissed immediately but be tried in the court of law and let the consequence follow,” Ali stressed.
A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), in a paper titled ‘Access To Justice: Socio-Cultural, Economic And Geographical Limitations Thereto-A…’ delivered recently in Ogun State, accused senior lawyers of ‘knowing all corrupt judges and court officials’ yet not taking drastic step about it.
“If the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is committed to the eradication of judicial corruption, it has the capacity to do so. With 120 branches spread across the country, the NBA can police judges, lawyers and court officials with a view to stamping out corrupt practices.”
Falana also said that “When the Ghana Bar Association was paying lip service to corruption, a journalist decided to video record judges who were negotiating and collecting bribes. At the end of the recording, he exposed, named and shamed the indicted judges. They were promptly investigated by the Ghana Judicial Council and dismissed from the bench.”
According to him, “Because the NBA was condemning corruption without adopting any concrete measure to stop it, the security and anti-graft agencies had at a time seized the initiative and arrested judges in the dead of the night to the eternal embarrassment of the legal profession. To prevent any further embarrassment of our judges, the NBA and NJC ought to adopt an inbuilt mechanism for exterminating the menace of corruption from the bar and bench.”
“…We need judges who are prepared to insist that their hands cannot be tied by unjust laws to do injustice even if the heavens would fall. It is not sufficient for our judges to quote Lord Denning with relish. Our judges must emulate him by ensuring that the gates of our courts are flung open to citizens with genuine grievances. Like Justice Krishner Iyer of India, our judges must actualise the socioeconomic rights enshrined in Chapter 2 of the Constitution and not leave them inchoate and barren.”
“Like Justice Akinola Aguda, our judges must always realise that the law can be used to promote social justice in a manner that the commonwealth is not concentrated in the hands of a few while majority of the people wallow in abject poverty. And like Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN, who successfully defeated the anachronistic doctrine of locus standi, our lawyers should challenge other obnoxious laws and legal principles which have denied the Nigerian people access to justice.”
However, the consequence of a corrupt judiciary is the loss of confidence in the system that should ordinarily guarantee justice and equity.
This development which brings about hopelessness leaves no one with any faith in the law that should be the blindfolded arbiter whose only sentiment is fairness and equity.