While studying judiciary reporting at the university in those days, our lecturer made us to believe that after the temple of God, judges were next. You must not wear cap in court, you must not take photographs, you must not tape-record proceedings etc. If you run foul of the rules, the judge could send you to prison. I carried this feeling of judges being next in hierarchy to God in my head when I began to practise journalism.
My first major court coverage was in the early 1990s as correspondent of the defunct Concord Press in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. It involved the criminal charge against businessman, Umanah Umanah and his company, Resources Managers Limited. They were arraigned in the Federal High Court for operating an illegal bank. The case went on smoothly until the lead defence counsel, Mr. Ledum Mitee found out that the judge had written his judgment even when the case had not got mid-way. Mitee saw the judgment in the judge’s chamber, insisted before the prosecuting counsel who was with them that the document be admitted in evidence. The judge took his hands off the case and was subsequently retired. Proceedings in that case eventually got stuck and Umanah secured his freedom while hundreds of depositors in the Port Harcourt wonder bank who lost their deposits licked their wounds.
That incident, a miscarriage of justice, tempered my belief in judges as infallible. It’s no surprise to me now that judges are now serially investigated, retired, dismissed and even recommended by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for criminal prosecution or busted in sting operations by the Department of State Services (DSS) for having taken bribes to scuttle justice.
It’s common knowledge that corruption is a big problem in our country, but the arrest of Supreme Court justices and their brothers in the Federal High Courts in some states by the DSS has left no one in doubt that the judiciary, the last hope of the common man has also caught the bug.
Corruption has run full cycle here. There is hardly any professional group in our country that is immune from the corruption virus. Politicians, legislators, soldiers, judges, lawyers, journalists, accountants, lecturers, traders. Not even clergymen!
The uproar is still on. Was the DSS right to have raided the judges’ homes in the night? Is the DSS action not likely to undermine the safety of judges and destroy the image of the judiciary? Is it not an affront on the independence of the judiciary?
My take is that the fight against corruption in the judiciary should not be taken with levity. We cannot afford a third arm of government, which interprets the law to continue to harbour men and women who sit in judgment, but whose integrity and honour are doubtful.
We have had instances where such corrupt judicial officers awarded victory in election cases to losers, who apparently paid for the judgment that catapulted them into office against the wishes of the electorate.
Corrupt judges are like a cancerous tumour. The more they are left to vegetate, the worse for our survival and well being.
I learnt from a source that one of the judges in whose home millions of naira was found tried hard to conceal the evidence when security operatives stormed his residence. The multi million naira cash was not found in a single location. He made futile efforts to break them down and conceal it in different rooms and lockers. He didn’t succeed. The DSS men turned the house upside down and made sure they got the money out of the places they were carefully concealed.
Just as the Presidency remarked, it is the accused judges that are on trial and not the judiciary. It is only if we fail to separate the chaff from the wheat that we risk the grave danger of our judiciary degenerating further into a totally worthless and unreliable institution. We must not allow this to happen, lest we be doomed.
Rather than continue to dissipate energy on whether it was right to have raided the homes of the judges suspected of involvement in corruption, we should insist that they be given fair trial, and if found guilty, be made to face the music. And of course, unlike us who are unlearned, they have the advantage of knowing the laws, they are going to be judged by their colleagues and defended by lawyers. It will be very sad if eventually the scale of justice tilts against them with all the advantages.
Judges are wielding the powers of the Almighty. They can sentence anyone brought before them to death; they can sentence anyone to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Anyone who has chosen that calling must be God-like and must never be found wanting. If for nothing else the raid has sounded a warning alarm to all judges that we are in a new season that demands that only those who can stand before man and God and be counted as infallible deserve to sit in the temple of justice.
Re: Games in the eyes of kidnappers
Newspaper headlines of 9/10/16 and your piece on kidnappers added stones to my 150 a cup Sunday rice. In fact, it spoilt my day. The events of these days, the impunity, the degradation of human value and wickedness of mankind in Nigeria portend doom for our society. Have you paused to think about why our leaders can’t take a walk on our streets and shake hands with people they claim to lead? The answer will free us. May you live long.
–Tony Enyinta, Isuikwuato, Abia State.
Abdulfatah, the issue of kidnapping has many sides to it. When a father abandons a child, all he has done by that is to open him to means of fending for his survival in whatever way he deems right, even when he does not have what it takes to live through clean and decent means. The same analogy holds in case of government that fails to provide employment for the youths, including university graduates whose intellectual capacity is, in most cases, more sophisticated than that of most of the security operatives. Another is the case of even the security outfits not being financially mobilised to fight headlong to clip the wings of criminals in general. There had been reported cases of some kidnappers saying that the security agents are not unaware of their exploits. That proves a synergy between them and some security people. Without justifying crime, what does one expect from criminally-minded citizens of a wealthy country, which the leadership class loots the treasury blatantly than restive followership which adopts criminal ploys for survival? Taking a good look at the texture of kidnapping in Nigeria, it shows scientific application in information gathering on their targets and the assurance that their ransom-deal would, in the end, be realised from bailors of their captives. To combat such a scientific operation requires scientific approach. In advanced climes, electronic devices are installed to monitor movements of people, particularly in cities. Apart from that, the police have informants in houses along streets, on their payroll, who report suspicious scenarios to them; to which they respond instantly to stem crimes and possibly arrest suspects for interrogation. That proactive synergy, between the police and the citizenry, is not in place here. Insulation of information sources to police is also absent. So, no one would offer such information for fear of being traced by concerned criminals later. So, the country has a long way to go. It is even worse now with the intractable recession that has increased unemployment by million folds. So, where do we start from than to pray to God to save Nigeria? It is a steep, slippery climb to salvation! God help Nigeria, Amen.
–Lai Ashadele.
It is very unfortunate and sad that some people have taken kidnapping as a lucrative, easy money making business. It is a very bad omen. It is now that security agencies should live up to their billing to bring kidnapping and other vices to stop because Nigeria’s image is being destroyed internationally over kidnapping and other vices. All the three tiers of government should make security. Foreign investors will not come to this kidnapping environment because of the safety of their lives and their investment. Let us be security conscious by reporting all criminal acts and suspicions to the police.
–Mrs. ljeoma N. Lagos.
Where are we heading to since kidnapping has taken centre stage in Nigeria? Is unemployment the cause of this evil act? It is now sad that Nigerians cannot go to sleep and close their two eyes because of insecurity in the land. Security agencies should wake up from their slumber and address the issue of insecurity lapses, so that Nigeria can move forward. Investors will not come to Nigeria to invest until we find a lasting solution to insecurity. We need to pray hard to arrest these ugly acts for the betterment of Nigerians.
–Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia.
Abdulfatah, due largely to the degeneracy in our value system, Nigeria is turning into a jungle painfully. The most profitable business in our country today is deceit. The only thing that moves an average Nigerian now is money. So whatever one does to acquire it does not matter. A known loafer in a community will suddenly become the toast of young girls, women and elders as long as he has cash to throw around. Nobody asks questions about the source of his sudden affluence. In this situation, all manner of criminal acts flourish. The fault lies squarely with the family first, the religious bodies, the educational system and the leadership. Our leaders at all levels do not lead by example; they preach one thing and do the opposite. Security is the responsibility of the state and where the state fails what can poor relatives of a kidnap victim do but to pay the ransom demanded by the kidnappers no matter what it takes, to secure the release of their kin. Thanks.
–Emma Okoukwu.