THE National Judicial Council (NJC) has again wielded the big axe as it sanctioned two judges of the Niger State High Court, Justices Idris Evuti and Tanko Usman, for allegedly falsifying their dates of birth. The council also sanctioned Lagos State High Court judge, Justice O. Gbajabiamila, for allegedly delaying delivery of judgement in a suit before him for 22 months. The NJC disciplinary measure followed the investigations of petitions written against the Justices.
According to NJC’s Acting Director of Information, Mr. Soji Oye, the council has recommended the compulsory retirement of Justices Evuti and Gbajabiamila to the Niger and Lagos state governors, respectively. The two Justices have been suspended by the NJC pending the decisions of the Niger State governor, Mr. Abubakar Bello, and his Lagos State counterpart, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on the recommendations for their suspension. Mr. Oye pointed out that Justice Usman was not recommended to the Niger State governor for compulsory retirement because he had already retired at the time the NJC took the decision at its meeting of April 13 and 14, 2016.
Meanwhile, the council has written to the Niger State Government to deduct from Justice Usman’s gratuity the salaries received by him from June 2015 when he should have retired from the bench.
In the same vein, the NJC has recommended to the Niger State Government to deduct all salaries received by Justice Evuti from September 2015 till date from his gratuity and remit same to it, as it is the body responsible for the payment of the salaries of judicial officers in the country.
For falsifying their dates of birth, the affected Niger State judges violated the provision of the Seventh Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) on Judicial Oaths, which among others, mandates judicial officers to discharge their duties honestly and faithfully in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law.
The action of the affected Lagos State judge violated the provision of Section 294 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which clearly states that “every court established under this Constitution shall deliver its decision in writing not later than ninety days after the conclusion of evidence and final addresses and furnish all parties to the cause or matter determined with duly authenticated copies of the decision within seven days of the delivery thereof.” For violating these sections of the Constitution, the erring judges deserve the NJC’s prescribed punishment.
We commend the NJC for once again living up to public expectation in disciplining erring judicial officers. We recall that the council, sometime ago, punished some judges for sundry corruption offences. The intervention of the NJC in matters like this is likely to make other judges sit up and avoid compromising their positions as justices in the nation’s judicial temple. The NJC should widen its dragnet and bring more erring justices to book because cases of such abuses of office are rampant in the land. Regrettably, only a few of such cases are brought to the attention of the council.
The unconscionable change of dates of birth by the two judges in Niger State is odious, while the failure of the judge in Lagos State to deliver a judgement in a case within the stipulated period allowed by law amounts to gross indiscipline and a flagrant abuse of office.
We decry the unbecoming attitude of these judicial officers and laud the NJC for punishing them. The nation’s criminal justice system would have been exposed to great harm and ridicule if the unscrupulous judicial officers were not shown the way out. No effort should be spared by the NJC in ridding the judiciary of bad eggs.