The report of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) last week Tuesday indicting the Judiciary as being on top of the Nigeria Corruption Index this year has attracted discordant tunes in Kwara writes ACTING EDITOR, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM.
Last week, the judicial sector in Nigeria was rattled to its foundation following the report of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on Tuesday that the Judiciary is on top of the Nigeria Corruption Index between 2018 and 2020.
In Kwara, the staggering number which was for only two years have left many lawyers divided.
According to the details of the account contained in a report: “Nigeria Corruption Index: Report of a pilot survey”, carried out by the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, the intellectual arm of the ICPC made available by the chairman of ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, a SAN designate in Abuja, “about N9, 457,650,000.00 (N9.457 billion) was offered and paid as bribe by lawyers between the 2018 and 2020.
Owasanoye said the Nigeria Corruption Index (NCI) “indicates that both the public and private sectors are complicit in the high corruption levels in Nigeria and also cited alteration of court documents as part of the corruption in the Judiciary.
The report said: “Grand corruption in the justice sector also manifests in the form of fraudulent alteration of court documents.”
“In the experience of justice sector respondents, court staff are most responsible for this corrupt practice.
“Six female judges, according to the agency, reported that they were offered N3, 307,444,000.00 (N3.307billion) and five male judges reported N392, 220,000(N392.2million).
“The anti-corruption commission said the cases of outright demand and offer of bribes were “mostly linked to election matters.”
While further explaining in details the rot in the Judiciary, NCI noted that “Overall, the justice sector had the highest level of corruption with a score of 63. The level of corruption in the justice sector was heightened by stupendously high amounts of money offered as bribes to judges by lawyers handling high electoral and other political cases.
“A large percentage, 73 per cent of justice sector respondents did not experience a situation of outright demand or offer of bribe. Nevertheless, it remains alarming that 16 per cent of respondents had experienced such blatant demands or offers of bribes.“Follow up discussions indicated that the cases of outright demand and offer of bribes are mostly linked to election matters.
“Money involved in the high-level corruption in this sector was categorized into money demanded, offered or paid. Demands are made by court officials including judges, while bribery offers and payments are made by lawyers or litigants.
“78 respondents constituting 8.7 per cent of all justice sector respondents reported offers or payments of bribes to influence the judicial process. Out of the 78 justice sector respondents that reported amounts of money offered or paid, 63 were lawyers. This number makes up 9.9 per cent of all lawyers surveyed in the justice sector. The 63 lawyers that reported payments were mostly male being 69.8 per cent, while their female colleagues constituted 30.2 per cent of that population.
“The court staff reported the lowest amount of money offered as bribe to influence the outcome of a judicial process. The total amount of money reported by court staff was N24,000,000…”
“The document gave the breakdown of the percentage of those most responsible for bribe for judgment situations as follows: Lawyers (27.17 per cent); Litigants personally (21.96 per cent) Court Staff(Clerks, Registrars etc)—(21.54 per cent); Judges (16.88 per cent), Government MDAs (7.37 per cent); No experience on the matter(3.06 per cent); Chose not to say(1.01 per cent) and others 1.01 per cent”, the report added.
However, following the development, lawyers in Kwara have continued to react to the report expressing divergent views in their different responses with Pilot Judiciary on Saturday.
According to the chairman of the Ilorin branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Barrister Abdulganiyu Bello, the ICPC report can’t be disputed because the commission had their fact adding that the judges involve in the sale of judgment should have the fear of God because they are the representatives of the Supreme Being on earth.
He added that although the issue is declining after the coming of the present administration, it is not only rampant in the superior courts in the country but event widespread in other courts of lower jurisdictions.
“On this issue with the index from 2018-2020, I believe we are all living witnesses to what is happening in our society and we know that some judges sell their judgment but it is reducing now since the coming of this administration. We know what used to happen in the past, politicians influence and even buy judgment. I can’t dispute the report because the body that revealed it has their facts which may not be known to us.
“It is a well known phenomenon in the judiciary and I just pray that judges should fear God. When talking about the judiciary, it is beyond the superior courts but include the area, customary and magistrate courts and it is very rampant at this levels.
“The duties of the judges are most sacred and they are doing the work of God on earth who is the sole judge that will judge all of us. The greatest sin is perpetrating injustice and giving justice to someone that does not deserve it. This issue is a matter of moral and despite the offer of bribe; the conscience of the judges should control them.
“Although this is very rampant on election matters, other matters of corruption also happen in the lower courts as judges get peanuts to do whatever bidding they are influenced to do not minding their conscience or whatever happens. Lawyers are involved among those that give bribes; we will keep on saying it until there is change as we cannot arrest them”, the NBA chairman added.
Also reacting to the issue, Barrister Mohammed Abeni (SAN) said while politicians should be blamed for the menace, judges and lawyers should have the determination to refuse it adding that those found culpable should be made to face the music.
“Although I have not read the report and don’t have the fact, one may raise issues about it. But be that as it may and with the intensity of the political parties and politicians to win by all cost, this is not impossible.
“It is however the judges that should resist such temptation and refuse to collect such money. But it can happen because politicians are always desperate and always want to win but any of them (judges and lawyers) that are found culpable should be made to face the music and serve as deterrent to others”, the Senior Advocate added.
For his part, Barrister Tune Falola however disagreed with the repot of the ICPC adding that although, there are bad eggs in the judiciary, that is not enough to make generalisation that sector is the leading corruption entity in the country.
“I want to respectfully disagree with the views expressed by the ICPC regarding the ranking of Judiciary in Corruption index. First and foremost and like any other sector of economy, there is no doubt that there are bad eggs in the Judiciary. In fact, we have instances where some of the judicial officers were dragged before the NJC, the body constitutionally empowered to discipline erring Judges. In these cases, the affected judicial officers were either dismissed outright or were compulsory retired.
“Similarly, few years ago, there were cases of lawyers being arraigned in court by Anti corruption agencies, and in most cases, some of them were either convicted and sentenced accordingly or referred to the Legal Practitioner Disciplinary Committee (LPDC). In these few cases, the general public was satisfied that at least sanity is being restored in the justice sector. However, this few instances are not enough to make the generalizations that our Judiciary is the most corrupt sector in the country”, he submitted.
According to Falola, the ICPC boss should have provided records of its investigation and fact about those investigated, charged and convicted.
“If truly the judiciary ranks top as the most corrupt in Nigeria, one would have expected the ICPC chairman to supply details of this analyst with facts and figures of those investigated charged and convicted by courts of competent jurisdictions otherwise, the analysis still remains in the realm of allegation”, he added.
