Magistrate Aisha Abdullahi, a serving Magistrate presiding at the Senior Magistrate Court, Uke, Nassarawa State recently had cause to issue a bench warrant against the Nassarawa State Commissioner for Works. Information in indicates that an aide to the said Commissioner, one Aliyu Bello Aliyu, was reported to have condemned the issuance of the bench warrant and threatened that the Magistrate will undergo a “special punishment”. Apparently, the threat was carried out when it was reported that the Magistrate was subsequently transferred from the Uke Magisterial District to Agwada Magisterial District. This automatically means that she could no longer continue hearing the case in which she issued the bench warrant.
Expectedly, the Nigerian Bar Association and every reasonable Nigerian greeted the transfer order with shock and criticisms. The history of the Nigerian Judiciary in contemporary times have been that of attack, harassment, intimidation and subjugation of Nigerian Judges, mostly by the Executive arm of government at both the federal and State levels. The Judiciary is deliberately starved of the much needed funds to carry out its constitutional responsibilities of delivering justice without fear or favour. The much-touted financial autonomy for the judiciary is a façade because till date the Executive arm of government still majorly determines what the budget of the Judiciary should be and the appointments into the bench. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) and the Police (agencies under the Executive) have at various times harassed and invaded the houses of Judges, under the pretext of investigation. We all recall the recent case of invasion of the official residence of Honorable Justice Mary Peter-Odili (JSC, Rtd.) by some persons purporting to be security officials using an obviously forged search warrant. While the Federal Government has the full complement of the constitutional number of cabinet Ministers, the Supreme Court has only 13 Justices, left to work without adequate facilities and tools required for such offices. 8 vacancies in the Supreme Court are yet to be filled.
It becomes more worrisome and a very sad commentary in our quest to insist on the independence of the Judiciary, when the Judiciary itself is unable and/or refuses to assert its own independence and defend its own by continuing to make itself available to the Executive arm of government; and therefore make a ridicule of the doctrine of separation of powers, as enshrined in Chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigerian, 1999, as amended. The Constitution has donated the judicial powers of the entire country to the Courts and therefore any Judgment or order made by a court of law must be obeyed until same is set aside by the same Court or by an appellate Court. Respect for the institution of the Courts is a desideratum for an enduring democracy. The other option is anarchy.
Every person, including the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is under the law. The Court of Appeal had the opportunity to emphasize respect for the rule of law in the case of the GOVERNOR OF EBONYI STATE & ORS V. HON. JUSTICEISUAMA (2003) FWLR [PT. 169] 1210 @ 1227-1228, where the Court of Appeal while stressing the need for public officials to obey the law held that:“Obedience to the rule of law by all citizens but more particularly those who publicly took oath of office to protect and preserve the constitution is a desideratum to good governance and respect for the rule of law. In a democratic society, this is meant to be a norm; it is an apostasy for government to ignore the provisions of the law and the necessary rules made to regulate matters”.
The transfer of Magistrate Aisha Abdullahi is wrong and amounts to an apparent intimidation of the Magistrate. I respectfully urge my noble Lord, the Chief Judge of Nassarawa State to rescind the transfer order. Failure to do so, may be interpreted as a capitulation to the threats from the aide to the said Commissioner, who by now ought to be the subject of a bench warrant, for his insulting statements amount to contempt of the court.
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