Barrister Idowu Ayoola Akande is the chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ilorin branch, he speaks with our JUDICIARY CORRESPONDENT, KAYODE ADEOTI, on the trial of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Samuel Walter Onnoghen among other germane issues. Excerpts:
Nigerians have been asking the President to apologise to the CJN, following his trial at the CCT, how do you see this?
There are lots of issues surrounding this development that are in the public domain, but as the legal body, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) really condemned the suspension and the arraignment of the CJN before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, (CCT). Looking at the merit of the case, the CCT granted motion expate, suspending the CJN, to me, this is a fragrant violation of the principle of natural justice. Before such decision could be taken, the CJN ought to have been given fair hearing. About his trial, lots of fact are not clear to Nigerians, the allegation of owing 55 houses is frivolous, there is nothing like that, the prosecution has proved it that he has just 5 houses. On the issue of foreign account, it is also clear now that he has none, all he has is just a domiciliary account which is allowed by the law. However, I don’t want to say there is a case against him or not because there is still one salient fact or ingredient of allegation which is failure to declare his asset. It is an issue before the court. Generally, it is not the issue of the volume of money found in his account but failure to declare his asset. Though the trial has a political undertone, but it is no crime if the CJN tried to show the world if he’s guilty or not of the allegations. It is a matter making the law to work, I don’t see why the presidency should apologise for allowing law to take its cause.
Will you say presidency’s legal advisers are not competent?
The issue is the interpretation of the law. There is no lacuna in the law, but I will blame all the stakeholders for leading us to where we are today. The foremost judicial officer is on trial, I will also blame the system, desperation of some individuals who are privileged to be in political offices in their quests for political power. We have the problem of greed, problem of Nigeria mentality to abuse political power.
Looking at the 2019 election and the condemnations trailing it, what do you think INEC should do in order to have better election process in subsequent years?
The problem is, people believe that 2015 election was more credible than the 2019. One of the major factors for this setback is the number of political parties we have in the just concluded poll. In 2019, we are having many political parties with lesser political responsibilities. We have more parties that made our ballot papers unnecessarily large, this confused many electorate. On the issue of inconclusive elections, state that were declared inconclusive were where we had keen competition. The legislation needs to check powers of the INEC from declaring elections inconclusive. The power is too large and it has been subjected to abuse. Elections in states declared inconclusive are not free and fair, such development has more negative impacts than good. The election tribunal nullified the election of Governor Oyetola and ordered Adeleke, the candidate of PDP to return as duely elected. Inconclusive election has caused many damages in Nigeria, it leads to waste of time and money.
By May 29th, new government will emerge in Kwara State, what will you want the new administration to focus on in the judiciary?
The issue is not on the building of new court but rehabilitation of the existing ones. Our courts are not fit for human habitation. The new government should work on this, particularly in the capital city, local government headquarters. Also affecting the judiciary is the poor allowances of the judicial officers. Most of the police orderlies attached to courts are earning better salaries than the judges. Judges of lower courts, the issue of their allowances should be addressed. As a matter of urgency, I want the new government to evacuate the State Universal Basic Education Baord (SUBEB), the structure is too close to the court. It’s not done anywhere, the court is a sacred place, but here, in the state headquarters, it is a rowdy place.
