Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court descended on a senior lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, for bringing a “frivolous and vexatious” motion, to rid Imo Government House of Hope Uzodinma on the basis of, wait for it, the 2019 poll in the state. Venting over the request to exhume a matter, supposedly “rested” four years ago when it controversially replaced Emeka Ihedioha with Uzodinma, the apex court imposed a N40 million fine, to be paid, not by the politician-client, but by the Silk, the counsel.
Apart from being well-regarded as a jurisprudential savant, decorated rights fighter and cerebral pro-democracy activist, Ozekhome is now a full-fledged professor of Law. None counted, when the apex court was landing the hammer.
It was the court’s way of loudly telling the Inner Bar, seen as the main encourager of the political class in constantly bringing political mess to the judiciary, that while being conservative, gags it from joining issues in public domains, the courtrooms remain its veritable launchpad for necessary fightback.
Yoruba will say ara ija leyin wa (all is fair in war).
Last week, I was privileged to encounter a very senior judicial officer, who supervises dozens of senior judges. From our brief interaction, the mounting denunciation of the judiciary by the political class (depending on which side is losing and winning) is getting to the leading lights of the system and their main frustration is what they see as the prevalent ignorance of the working of the judiciary especially in deciding political cases, among the critics of the system.
Against the judiciary, the political class, (the side losing at a particular time), strangely has the public behind it, while the cash flows retains what I call situational loyalty of senior lawyers, despite the political class, being manifestly responsible for the regular grieving by the Nigerian public. From my interactions, two things are mainly responsible for the public taking the back of the political class and their ever-available lawyers, in shaping narratives on election cases, mainly responsible for the call-outs and dragging of the system in public spaces.
One, the choice by leading operators of the judicial system, especially the Bench, to retain the centuries-long conservative nature, is self-sabotage in an age, when words can be imputed in one’s mouth, without you uttering them. Since the return of civil rule in 1999 with Mohammed Uwais as the head of the arm of government, the judiciary has stayed with the idea that the system should not join issues, even when perceived ignorance, untruths and dog whistle are giving its opponents an edge, on issues, especially emotive politics, despite its destructive tendencies.
Chinua Achebe said “if you don’t like someone’s story, write your own”. Another of his proverbs says, “The world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.”
Then my favourite about being your own voice; “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
I guess successive judiciary leaderships, fell and stayed in a false sense of comradeship with the Bar, with the coming of politicians and their ways, because the Bar and the Bench yoked in adversity during the military regimes and both, showed fidelity to the brotherhood. Now, there is politics money to be made, and the Bench is still hoping the Bar would remain faithful.
To be clear, this is not a testament to judges being more judicious in observing official sacraments. There are rotten peaches (apologies to Elton John) on the Bench, as in other public jobs, whether elected, selected, appointed, or imposed.
72 hours ago, the National Judicial Council (NJC) still sent one packing and the umbrella body for the judiciary has been doing that since it began operations 23 years ago. So far, hundreds of judicial officers, on record, have been punished for various misdeeds. In fact, there is hardly any quarterly meeting of the Council, where at least an errant judge, won’t be sent home.
We should laud, when due. No arm of government has been that thorough with self-cleansing. Not even America’s judiciary has achieved NJC’s kind of disciplinary milestone. But pray, how do people get to know if the leaders of the system decide to stay with stone-age concept.
Apart for Walter Onnoghen, all other nine Chief Justices that have led the judiciary since 1999 are manifestly averse to engaging the people through available mass media. I should know. Then in Abuja and now from Lagos, I have been privileged to relate with all and interacted closely, with a couple. Encouraging them, to speak to issue, is like asking to partake of Egyptian plagues. Yet, criticisms get to them and they complain of being unfairly treated in public domain. The question is, whose fault is it, when you are mum while being lashed with felony accusation? Onnoghen chose to be different and until his takedown by his deputy, cahooting with the Buhari gang, the system was actively engaging with the public.
The second reason the Bench is largely quiet about the battering of its integrity in the public domain, I believe, is the power it can wield in the courtroom. No doubt, the power is enormous and I can infer from my interactions that the system leadership sees no point, engaging in market square jaw-jaw when the job can be effectively done in the courtroom, where the lawyers can only say “as my lord pleases”, after every ruling, even when they are cruelly displeased.
And the Bench has been using the power of pronouncement to punish lawyers, seen as encouraging the political class, to denigrate the judiciary. Before Ozekhome became the latest victim, the Supreme Court had in 2020, gone for the iroko of the Bar, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN and the doyen of election petition, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, for agreeing to APC and David Lyon’s request to file an application for the review of the apex court’s judgement, voiding APC’s victory and enthroning PDP’s Duoye Diri as Bayelsa governor.
Both were fined N30 million each, after now-retired Justice Amina Augie had openly wept, because “very senior lawyers were responsible for the application”.
Without the political case, Augie, would have knelt down to greet Baba Afe, anywhere, including in the courtroom if their paths met in a finer setting. But the ugliness of politics brought judicial unpleasantness.
Chief Olanipekun is the lead counsel to sacked Kano governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, who is exploring his final window of appeal, at the apex court.
Since the Court of Appeal sacked Abba, even the unlettered water melon seller who has never seen a copy of court judgement in his entire life, has protested the judgement, interpreted to the public, by the governor’s legal team, and adumbrated by his media assemblage, as being against the run-of-play. The mix-up in the concluding portion of the lead judgement simply sent the judiciary to the Golgotha. An official explanation attempted by Umar Bangari, Court of Appeal’s Chief Registrar, was swiftly drowned in the din, from the governor’s quarter, forcing the judiciary back into its usual deafening silence.
But blowbacks can be as defining as the doubling down. Despite the overwhelming protestation, there are pointers to Abba likely going home, for the next four years, because the case against his election, is said to be beyond the numbers.
Yoruba have this melodramatic defiance message, “eni won to ri e na mi.” I won’t Interpret.
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