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NBA condemns criticisms of Supreme Court over rulings on elections

By Ibe Uwaleke, Godwin Dunia (Lagos), Alifa Daniel, Bridget Onochie and Oludare Ricards (Abuja)
12 February 2016   |   2:43 am
FROM NBA came the defence of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, yesterday against criticisms over the judgments of the apex court affirming the elections of the governors of Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Abia and Ebonyi states

_Mr-Augustine-Alegeh-

.Lawyers urge president to obey separation of powers rules

FROM the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) came the defence of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, yesterday against criticisms over the judgments of the apex court affirming the elections of the governors of Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Abia and Ebonyi states.

According to the lawyers, the allegation of bias against the Justices of the Supreme Court in returning the states complained about to the opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is ‘misguided’ as the apex court is still held in high esteem.

The President of NBA, Augustine Alegeh (SAN), condemned the allegations of corruption against the judiciary. He said: “The NBA condemns in its entirety the generalisation and categorisation of the judiciary as being corrupt and an impediment to the zero corruption policy of the present administration.”

He noted that even though there were bad eggs in the judicial system, the categorisation of the entire judiciary as corrupt was a strong misconception, and an attempt to smear the judiciary, which would not be tolerated.

He expressed concern over the issue of conflicting decisions of some lower courts, stressing that the failure of any court to adhere to laid down rules should be taken as a serious misconduct for which there should be sanction.

Alegeh therefore, called on the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to make effective the provision of Section 230 (2) (b) of the Constitution, by increasing the number of judges of the Supreme Court, from 15 to complete its constitutional quota of 21.

In his own support for the CJN, the former NBA president, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), said: “The judiciary did not create corruption, the judiciary did not transfer corruption to Nigeria. The judiciary did not beautify corruption in Nigeria. The judiciary did not anchor corruption, it is not the promoter of corruption. So, if the judiciary did not give birth to corruption, it cannot be an headache in the fight against corruption.”

Reacting in the same vein former president of the NBA and human rights lawyer, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, declared, “the CJN comment is indeed a most welcome one as bashing the judiciary is unhelpful in anyway.”

Three prominent Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Femi Falana, Victor Ndoma-Egba, and Emeka Etiaba, have also defended the judiciary.

Falana said those who had allegations to make concerning the Supreme Court justices over their recent decisions on election matters should channel them through the National Judicial Council ( NJC) rather than resort to unfounded allegations.

Etiaba said he believed that the judiciary was not the obstacle to the president in his fight against corruption. “What I think is going on is that the president has his own idea of the role the judiciary should play in his fight against corruption and the role he wants the judiciary to play most probably, is to act as a military tribunal and not to act within the confines of the constitution and the laws of the land.”

Ndoma-Egba, a former Senate Leader, said the judiciary should never be embroiled in politics, adding that no matter how strongly anyone felt especially about Supreme Court judgments as the final court in the land, public comments should be circumspect.

Noting that supreme courts the world over face criticisms, Falana was not sympathetic to President Muhammadu Buhari’s comments that his headache was the judiciary in his fight against corruption.

Etiaba, in his comments, said he suspected that politicians were out to rubbish the judiciary as they had done their political parties.

In his own reactions, an Ondo State-based lawyer, Remigius Akinbinu stated: “I will rather agree with the CJN on this. Most of those criticising the apex court judgments are only being swayed by their political inclinations.”

Former chairman NBA Ikeja branch, Monday Ubani, and a Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa also defended the judiciary.

10 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    It is conceivable that, though the judiciary is not the mother of corruption, it has become its babysitter.

    • Author’s gravatar

      It shows that many people running their diarrhoea mouth to be saying that judiciary are babysitter of corrupt people, you are dumb. All over the democratic world apart from APC corrupt infested running government in Nigeria, everybody with allegations of corruption are always given bail, not in Nigeria been, ruled and ruined daily by illiterates. All the western world are just laughing at our incompetent president and his dumb set up destroying Nigeria hourly, daily, monthly and in three months time a year of destruction.

  • Author’s gravatar

    There is an urgent need to purge the Nigerian judiciary.
    It’s as simple as ABC.
    They are now the custodians of corrupt politicians.

  • Author’s gravatar

    There is nothing wrong to call for thorough investigation of the Judiciary!!!

  • Author’s gravatar

    rom a layman’s view it is not so much the legality of the Apex Court’s judgement but the reasons given. How could a layman understand why the Court discount3d the impact of the Voters Identification machine? Whatever the legal angle may be, these verification gadgets did contribute to the elections that literally everyone agrees was the best. So could a judgement be that sacrosanct when it does seem to fair to the ordinary man no matter how “unlearned? The Courts should and must be open enough to criticism from the Nigerian public, afterall it is the public that will ultimately live with the consequence of whatever ruling the Courts make especially the Supreme Court after which there is no appeal. The NBA knows this and must understand the Public on the judgements that appear unreasonable.

  • Author’s gravatar

    The NBA and the SANS are biased in favor of the Supreme court. They should not turn Nigeria’s justice system to a “padi-padi justice system”

    ” Justice must not only be done, it must also be seen to be done”

    In the case of R v. Sussex Justices, Ex parte McCarthy ([1924] 1 KB 256, [1923] All ER Rep 233), McCarthy was being prosecuted for dangerous driving in a criminal case. The clerk of the Justices that decided the criminal case against McCarthy, was a partner in a law firm that was suing McCarthy for civil damages, regarding the same accident.

    Even though the Justices that decided the criminal case against McCarthy filed an affidavit afterwards, stating that the clerk did not influence their decision, the court of appeal overturned the decision against McCarthy and set forth its reasons for doing so, as follows:

    “…The question therefore is not whether in this case the deputy clerk made any observation or offered any criticism which he might not properly have made or offered; the question is whether he was so related to the case in its civil aspect as to be unfit to act as clerk to the justices in the criminal matter. The answer to that question depends not upon what actually was done but upon what might appear to be done…”

    If Wike met with some of the supreme court justices – in Mbaise, Owerri, Dubai and Saudi Arabia – before their decision on his case and if Peter Odili and his wife, Supreme Court Justice Mary Odili, were Wike’s advisers for the same election petition that the Supreme court decided in Wike’s favor, then where is the Justice in the decision of the Supreme court regarding the Rivers State election

  • Author’s gravatar

    Recent Supreme Court judgment legitimised violence in elections & try to undermine use of PVC that added value to our floored election process.
    Unsound judgement of the supreme need to be criticized, probed & purged, if found to have been compromised.
    Sahara Reporter report of 10th February with pictures of the CJN & Senator Akpabio tells it all. If CJN was a woman would have been accused of flirtation & putting herself in a compromising position.
    There is also evidence that DR Peter Odili & Mrs Odili Judge of the Supreme Court turned themselves into advisers to PDP/Wike of River State & might have influenced the verdict of the Supreme Court in favour of Wike. Ignoring the violence & killing of Nigerians during the elections.
    No one has a right to sell or buy justices. Rigged & violent elections are no elections. Nigeria deserves better.