CJN’s 365 days and the road to Seme

Nigeria’s Chief Justice, Kudirat Motonmori Kekere-Ekun is my birthmate. Same date, save year differential. Her spokesperson, Tobi Soniyi, is also an associate of more than a quarter of a century. A couple of her other subordinates are equally personally known to me. So if I appear propitious in assessing her one year in office, which she clocked on August 22, the day a year ago she received the judicial baton from her much-vilified immediate predecessor, Kayode Ariwoola, the factors I listed above, among others, including the fact that at least she has been scandal-free so far, must have possibly prejudiced me. But aren’t we all sentimental one way or the other and it is not even everyday you run into people (social standing notwithstanding) who were born same date as you.

The Oaths Act 2003 which public officers subscribe to in signing contract of service with Nigerians, mandates responsible stewardship. Judicial Oath under Schedule 1 reads; “I… swear that in the service of my country in the office of… I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria at all times. I will well and truly exercise the judicial functions entrusted to me and will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as by law established and in accordance with the laws and usage of the Federal Republic of Nigeria without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. I will always place service to the nation above all selfish interests, realising that a public office is a public trust. I will always perform my judicial duties diligently and efficiently and will not engage or be involved in any activity in conflict either directly or indirectly with this pledge. I will, in the performance of my judicial duties, eschew corruption in all its facets. I will always follow the path of justice, honesty and concord amongst all the people of Nigeria in all I do. So help me God.”

In NJC’s 25 years of existence, it has fired scores of judicial officers for proven misconducts and outright corrupt practices. They all swore to the above. Some even escaped comeuppance for diverse reasons including the untoward on the part of those who should hold them accountable either as the investigating or appointing authorities.

Months back, I was with a top official of the Nigerian judiciary when the head of a superior court walked in, with displeasure etched all over. The court head bemoaned the regular public smackdown of the judiciary even when those slamming are bereft of understanding. In contention then was a sweeping judgment which a higher authority eventually ruled as amoral but irredeemable. It turned out the judging public was right.

Another judicial juggernaut, now retired, was always irked the Nigerian public is constantly on the case of the judiciary, which he argued has since, with the advent of NJC, been doing more self and internal cleansing than any other arm of government. Statistically, the claim that the judiciary dusts its cobwebs more than others, is correct. At least, the National Judicial Council meets every quarter on issues affecting judicial officers and the second day of the usual two-day jaw-jaw is almost permanently set aside for the consideration of investigated petitions against judges and the application of applicable retribution, with all the sins of the affected judges put out there for all to see.

It is close to what can pass for naming and shaming, especially under the current regime when the minutest information about individual judges’ offences and the liabilities prescribed by the codes governing bench conducts must be detailed for the reading public. When bench and even bar sinners are routinely sent home by the judiciary with public disgrace to boot (at least those caught so far especially in the notorious Imo division), the executive and legislative arms simply tell their own to continue in their sin while enjoying the grace of the powers-that-be. Someone who should be serving motherland as a corps member was at the material time serving as a minister of the federal republic. How can that not be infernal! Till today, she serves as a member of the federal executive council (FEC), shielded by the hand that should expose her. The one that was seemingly exposed for corruption is being regularly teased for a return to the same FEC. Her accomplice and assumed love-interest is a star-boy of the same FEC. Per the National Assembly, the toad says when discussion veers towards tail topic, we should skip.

Indra Gandhi said doctors bury their mistakes, lawyers hang their mistakes but journalists put their mistakes on the front page for the world to see. The journo equivalent in this corruption conversation is incidentally the lawyers, sitting as administrators at NJC level, seeing to it that the corrupt that escaped entry level purgatory do not continue to foul the inside. There is a figurative expression of the health of the head, determining the overall health of the body. An unwell head is an unwell body. That is how important the head, either physical or symbolical is, representing the essence of the physical body, a system or a society.

As much as I would want to be generous with praise for the first 365 days of Kekere-Ekun, the big-bang reform expected to herald her reign after the Ariwoola contentious regime is yet to be heard by the majority of Nigerians, though stakeholders are acknowledging what they now call the Kekere-Ekun Effect within the system. I can relate with a couple. Aside not being scandalous like many top government functionaries, including some of her predecessors which plateaus her service record till date, she is gradually restoring the fear that mostly straightened the system under the leadership of her history-making predecessor, Aloma Mukhtar.

That is why the headship must not be “unwell” (scandalous). If a leader loses the moral authority, he loses all, including institutional respect that his/her moral uprightness should attract. Aloma wasn’t much loved, but was feared enough for everyone to sit up. At a Council meeting during her reign, she reportedly openly tongue-lashed a member who headed a court for trying to manipulate her in a very delicate matter. Now-late Justice Olayinka Ayooola, then a Council member reportedly cautioned against rigidity but everybody in the meeting got the message loud and clear: you don’t mess with the Iron Lady. It became a systemic creed.

Kekere-Ekun appears to be of softer texture but she is said to be holding her own in self and institutional discipline. Judicial officers now know they could be sent home en masse like the disgraced Imo 10 if they continue to hibernate in gutters with politicians or cuddling sleight in their conducts. That is why as intangible as the moral victory looks through her choice to be decent in service, it is the best gift she can bequeath the system considering that whatever highfalutin reform, administrative or constitutional, put in place now, can be easily set aside by her successors.