The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, last week, spoke of the societal damage corruption in the judiciary can inflict, and promised to weed out questionable characters in the Bench. He said this at the opening of the “Refresher Course for Judges and Khadis” at the National Judicial Institute (NJI), Abuja.
The CJN pointed out that contrary to popular opinion, corruption is not limited to bribe taking and that corruption includes the giving of judgments or orders based on considerations other than legal merit.
As the CJN declared: “…a corrupt judge is not only a disgrace to the Bench and the noble profession, but also a disaster to the course of justice and the nation.” He spoke of the need to preserve the prestige and the integrity of the Bench in order to maintain the independence of the judiciary. To ensure that judges maintain excellent conduct, he disclosed that the National Judicial Commission under his charge has constituted the “Corruption and Financial Crimes Cases Trial Monitoring Committee,” to serve as a check on the excesses of some bad eggs in the Bench and which with time will rid the judiciary of questionable characters. He would also institute rigorous screening and painstaking procedures to ensure that only the best materials, “in terms of learning and character”, get appointed into the Bench.
We think the CJN has hit all the right notes and he should be rest assured that most Nigerians are rooting for his success, knowing that a good judiciary is the last hope, the ultimate refuge of the common man, the most dependable anchor of democracy. We also share his views about the nature of corruption in the Bench. Judges, who pander to the whims and caprices of political leaders, are often as dangerous, if not more dangerous than the so-called “cash and carry” judges. We completely agree that legal merit should always be the only basis on which any court judgment should stand.
We are confident that given the antecedents and determination of the CJN, the judiciary would be motivated to eschew corruption which has become endemic in the country, and which robs the citizen of confidence in the judiciary and predisposes him to jungle justice. Discouraged citizens, uncertain of what to expect in the temple of justice, watch as cases drag on for five, 10, to 25 years, sometimes till the litigants have passed on. Yet, it is a truism that justice delayed is justice denied. Nigerians are optimists and still expect the judge to be fair and just, and should not be browbeaten by the government of the day to take any decision that is not based on legal merit or the law. Nigerians, therefore, expect their judges to give the fairest interpretation of the statutes based on the law.
Because of the enormous powers judges command, they determine the fortunes of fellow citizens. Thus when a man is raised from the bar to the Bench, by virtue of those powers, he is correspondingly elevated and is expected to be like the proverbial Caesar’s wife, beyond suspicion, in terms of his knowledge, conduct and moral uprightness.
We urge the Chief Justice to persist in his crusade and be rest assured that he can count on the support of Nigerians in deciding cases involving errant judges. He should also modernise the court system; relieve judges of having to write court proceedings by longhand by instituting electronic recording and retrieval of case records. Court judgments should be easily accessible through the Internet and, generally, the decisions of the courts should be easily available to the public at the earliest possible moment.
It is gratifying that the compensation of judges has ceased being an issue, while Section 84 (1-4) of the Constitution has ensured that the salary of judges is a direct charge on the consolidated fund, thus freeing the judges of having to depend on any other arm of government.