Ahuman right activist and a legal practitioner, Wahab Shittu, speaks on a Channel Television programme, ‘Law weekly’ monitored by our JUDICIARY CORRESPONDENT, KAYODE ADEOTI on the performance of the judiciary in the past year as well as activities of the anti-graft agencies in Nigeria. Excerpts:
How will you access the performance of the judiciary in 2018?
If I’m in the position to award marks, the performance of the judiciary in 2018 is far above average. I will score the sector 85 per cent. This is because of the tremendous reforms that the Chief Justice of the Federation introduced into the administration of justice system at all levels including monitoring mechanism to check excesses like the element of delay and the far reaching measures put in place by the body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria… At the Supreme Court level, there is practice direction, notably, the establishment of special courts of the Supreme Court aimed at accelerating proceedings which is unprecedented. This has never happened before and corruption related cases, matters bordering on terrorism and others that impact on economy were given privacy. There was a sense of justice and speed because there is realisation that justice must not only be delivered but must be speedily handed down… If you have a system that delivers slowly on dispensation of justice, such system is unlikely to attract investment. Even at the level of arbitration, there was a reform being put in place to guide practitioners and accelerate proceedings. So, because of the conscious reform measures put in place by CJ of the federation, I will score the judiciary very high. Again, it has never happen before that the CJN will set up an independent body to monitor the activities of our court system; I’m referring to the justice Galadima led committee… During the year, the CJN specifically directed the body of SAN to put in place training mechanism that fully integrate those who were elevated to the inner Bar, to guard them in terms of ethical standard. There is a kind of training being organised by those who are appointed as SAN even before they were sworn in, it has never happened before. In Supreme Court this year, a lot of pronouncements were handed down…
Looking at the activities of the anti-graft agencies in the past year…?
Initially, there were areas of concerns particularly when we experienced government clamping down on judges without reference to other sister agencies. At the beginning, there appeared to be confusion in the coordination of these anti graft agencies but things gradually stabilised, what is seen now is a collaboration between all agencies. You do not see the kind of in-fighting again, those in charge of these agencies had taken fundamental lessons… During the year, brighter minds were appointed to service some of these agencies. The ICPC for instance, we have Professor Bolaji Awosanoye who is now chairman of the body. Already, Ibrahim Magu is performing wonders in the EFCC, these are players who are known to each other. So, we’re not likely to see much of rivalry among the EFCC, ICPC and the DSS with some of the changes brought into operation largely because of the change of guards instigated by the then acting President Yemi Osinbajo. We now have greater adherence to ethical and professional standard… All of them seem to have united and have common agenda to fight and combat corruption in the land which is the main agenda of Buhari administration.
Despite all the challenges these agencies faced and some of the activities that were questionable in the past year, would you still commend them?
When we look at record of convicts posted by EFCC in 2018, a total of 321 convictions were recorded and this included high profile convictions like that of former governor of Zamfara State, Jolly Nyame and former governor of Plateau, Joshua Dariye, this people are serving terms in Kuje prison, it is very unprecedented. There is also a case I prosecuted up to the Supreme Court and we secured conviction. All these happened under Magu’s watch and one will begin to wonder about Magu.
Towards the end of 2018, the NBA President was arraigned, what does that portend to the legal system?
I wouldn’t want to comment on the merit of that case, but honestly, I think we should allow the court to do their job. But one is also allow to comment generally. I think most of the commentators on this subject were not bothered to look closely at the extant. For instance, I will prefer a pronouncement that is taken after exhausting all relevant laws that we have. The Money Laundering Act of EFCC, the fraud related act and several others that we have in our country. If you look at these Acts, you will see that EFCC are acting generally within their mandates. The pronouncement made by Supreme Court in some other cases like Attorney- General of Abia state and other line of cases… They’ve said that these anti-graft laws cover the entire field. They are legislation that covers state revenues, even states activities. They are meant generally to further the war against corruption as entrenched in section 16 (c) of the constitution. This section states that the states have duty to ensure that they put mechanism in place to combat corruption. It is a standard policy recognised by the supreme law, the commanding commander. Nobody will say that such laws are made in contravention of the constitution. Again, it is also open to any of those that are being tried under this law to challenge them… what we should emphasis is a democracy that is anchored on the rule of law and respect for the constitution, which is the grand norm. Where any action is taken contrary to the law, the person involved is entitled to challenge it and I believe we should begin to invest greater faith in our judiciary. Most people don’t know that our judiciary is one of the best not even in Africa but in the entire world. You find some of the brightest brains in our judiciary and they should be allowed to function unimpeded, without any interference…
