In this interview with ABIODUN AWOLAJA, former presidential/governorship candidate and legal practitioner, Chief Reuben Famuyibo, speaks on the controversy over Appeal Court judgments, the Tinubu administration, the Oyebanji government in Ekiti State and sundry issues. Excerpts:
THE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, has called for cases to be terminated at the Court of Appeal, but people have been expressing reservations about certain decisions of that court; for instance, the Kano State governorship election judgment. What is your view on the suggestion?
I dont think that the suggestion makes sense to me. All over the world, we have the apex court. We need to search our conscience: are we putting the right people on the Bench? The way we are going, it is now “justice for sale” in Nigeria. I can say that boldly. Look at the embarrassment the case in Kano caused the judiciary. What happened? Who wrote the judgment? It is still a mystery to me. it is time we started questioning the lifestyle of some justices. If you say that cases should end up at the Appeal Court, it will still be the same thing. People are criticising even the Supreme Court; I don’t want to talk further because I am a very senior person in the legal field. Some of us are keeping quiet and talking to our seniors. About 48 hours ago, I spoke with my learned brother, Wole Olanipekun (SAN). People have reservations. Tomorrow (Wednesday), I might be speaking with Yusuf Alli (SAN) in Ilorin, Kwara State, on the same issue. Where are we going in this country?
The Kano case was attributed to clerical errors…
What is clerical about that? Was the judgment not read before it was release? Those are excuses. Look at what is going on even in Federal High Court cases. Your lawyers would be telling you that you have to go and settle judges!
Then, what do we do?
Well, I think that the government needs to call the Nigerian Judicial Commission to have serious punitive measures against erring judges. Let’s have a body that will be reviewing things.
Is it about policy or law, or both?
I think it is both. The conscience of so many judges have been bought. Perhaps the government can get a body of retired Supreme Court justices to review those things and after reviewing, if they find that any judge erred, they should be able to recommend serious punishment. We need that in this country; corruption has eaten deep into our fabric. I don’t even feel proud to tell anybody that I am a Nigerian whenever I travel.
The House of Representation took steps on state policing last week. People like you have been calling for restructuring of the polity for some time now…
We need to restructure Nigeria. If we restructure and every zone has its own Supreme Court, it will be okay for us. The workload is too heavy for the Supreme Court justices.
Perhaps that was why the CJN was complaining?
Yes. They (Supreme Court justices) are less than 20. Three or four years after retirement, they die because they have overworked the body. And they are partly exposed to all of this corruption and stress because of the number of judges. They are just too minute for the population we have. Nearly every case ends at the Supreme Court. Do you want to kill them? But if you restructure and you have zonal apex courts, you can limit the pressure. That is the case in the United States. During the Constitutional Conference we had under Sani Abacha, I submitted a paper recommending that every segment of the Nigerian society should have a way of getting punishment for any corrupt practices, not limited to jail terms. We should be able to go as far as the death penalty.
Still along that line, the Service Chiefs were at the House of Reps and the Chief of Defence Staff complained about the release of terror suspects by the courts and advocated the creation of special courts to try them.
Well, we should have special courts. It is being done all over the world. But unfortunately, we gathered that these terrorists are being sponsored by the powers that-be. Look at the case of the killer herders in the South-West: until Governor Rotimi Akeredolu resisted them, with the support of those of you in the press, they were about to overrun the South-West. What is the population of Boko Haram that we are spending nearly half of the revenue in this country to fight them? Some people are living big off them.
How would you advise President Bola Tinubu to go about addressing the security and other issues now?
President Tinubu has just started. He is trying his best but he should know that he doesn’t have to care about any big man: Nigeria’s problem goes beyond party lines. He needs iron hand. I like the way he has taken off; at least, we have been able to know that people who are Nigeria’s main problem are less than 50, and 90 percent of them are from just a section of the country. It is unfortunate. Nigerians are suffering, but some people are doing round tripping. Why can’t we survive on our own? I read about how the Indians were able to bring themselves out of the woods…
Let’s talk about Ekiti State. Former Governor Segun Oni was at the Government House chapel recently to worship with Governor Biodun Oyebanji. The governor seems to be reaching out to people regardless of party affiliation. What really is your assessment of his government?
I think that Governor Oyebanji’s take-off was okay. I like it. The way he is reaching out to people, I think there is sincerity of purpose to serve the state. You know, to get the best out of people, you have to know how to approach them. Chief Afe Babalola showed me a document where former Governor Kayode Fayemi rejected the proposed building of the airport terminal by Chief Babalola. The man preferred to take loans rather than allow Chief Afe Babalola to build the terminal. I read the letter he sent to Chief Babalola saying that the government was not interested in him doing the terminal for free.
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