State governors not comfortable with judicial autonomy, financial independent —JUSUN President

SOJI-EZE FAGBEMI spoke with the National President, Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Comrade Marwan Mustapha Adamu, on judicial autonomy, financial independent, poor state of the courts nationwide and welfare of the judiciary workers. Excerpts.

JUDICIAL autonomy?

The struggle for the autonomy of the judiciary started long before now, but it became open to the public when we filed a suit in 2014 at the Federal High Court in Minna before it was later transferred to Abuja. The judgement was delivered in our favour and since then, no single state has appealed the judgment. When we noticed this development, we said well, JUSUN will be using a sword approach, because when you have a sword, you can use both sides. So, we took a more civil way by filling the suit, and after they failed to comply with the court judgment. We now took the other side of the sword by embarking on strike and that strike has resulted in many things. We reached an MoU. There was an intervention by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) as well as other stakeholders. So, with the numbers of MoU we have entered and the judgment, fortunately for us, all those stakeholders that have put pressure on us to see reason to suspend the strike, today can vindicate us, because no single governor in the entire country has complied or is complying with those three provisions of the constitutions namely: Section 121(3), section 821(3), and section 172.

We also talked about the garnishing of state governments accounts. A lot of politics came into it and a lot of efforts have been put in place until recently, when the new development of Order 10 came into existence by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Before then, the president set up an implementation committee known as Presidential Implementation Committee on Legislature and Judiciary Autonomy. The committee was set up because of the alteration of the 1999 Constitution and I want to make this point clear for people to understand and appreciate. The alteration has nothing to do with us in terms of the autonomy for the judiciary itself, because nothing new was infused in the constitution for us. If you look at Section 121(3), it was there before; but the state legislature was now accommodated in that provision. The alteration of the constitution was for the state legislature and not even the judiciary because there was nothing new. But for us, it was an advantage because it was open and it enlightened the public about the existence of those provisions without compliance. We took it and celebrated it not because something new came into the constitution for us in the judiciary but because when the presidential committee was set up to see the implementation of those provisions, we were all carried along because the committee was constituted for the judiciary, legislature and all other stakeholders  including the accountant general, the Nigeria Governors Forum, the forums of the legislature, and the head of speakers forum. We sat for more than eight months, we came up with recommendations and that was how the Order 10 came into being.

Order 10 and state governors’ position on judiciary/legislative autonomy?

Even though the Executive Order 10 has been signed by Mr President again, the governors came in with another delay tactic. To me, it’s a delay tactic, because none of the governors since 2014/15 came up to say that the interpretation of the constitution was not correct and none of them is complying. Order 10 was signed and the governors came up with another delay tactic by making observations and other issues like that. So, they went to the President and the President referred them to the Chief of Staff. When the Chief of Staff met with them, a seven-man technical committee was constituted from the legislature, and those who are representing the judiciary. Although the unions were excluded from that committee, we took it in good faith. The seven-man committee came up with the provisions that favoured the autonomy of the judiciary as a new recommendation. It was only after that committee report came out that the governors rushed to the Supreme Court and filed a case. Now, the matter is in the court and I don’t want to say much because the matter is before the Supreme Court. Although we are not a party to it, it was the Attorney General they filed the case against, seeking for a refund of money that they claimed was used for taking care of the judiciary while it was the responsibility of the Federal Government since 1999. They are seeking for the same interpretation we earlier went and got judgment on Section 81(3). But like I said, the matter is before the court, and as the highest court of the federation, I don’t want to say much. So, we will wait because I am sure that the office of the Attorney General is intervening in the matter and it is busy doing all it can do to present its position at the court, and when the outcome is out, we trust it will be a good development because we  don’t have a problem, but our prayer is that, we hope it is not a delay tactic to delay us.

Nothing can stop implementation of Executive Order 10?

I am sure that nothing can stop the continuation of the implementation of the committee work, even when they seek an order, the order was not granted. So, on that note, I am sure the committee is working hard to ensure that the best is done. The technical committee has finished its work and submitted its report to the President and he has also submitted the report to the main committee. I am privileged to know that there is nothing new, it’s the same issues they have been raising on the issues of financial autonomy and I have to thank our members for the patience, tolerance, including our principals and of course, the chief accounting officer. I have no reason not to commend the Federal Government for their stance in ensuring financial autonomy is realised, because even the word democracy we are talking about, without strict compliance to constitution and rule of law, I don’t think democracy will thrive.

Is judiciary autonomy non-negotiable?

So far, that’s where we are, and while we are waiting from the other side, the verdict will come out soon on the issues of Order 10, and we believe the committee is working hard to make sure the financial autonomy of the judiciary is realised. And I want to make it clear that the issue of financial autonomy is non-negotiable and we will make sure it is realised because that’s the only way to get fairness and justice. I challenge anyone to go and see the type of courts we have in all the 36 states of the federation, and when I say courts, it’s not only the superior or High Courts that we have. At times, the number of cases that go through the lower courts are not even done in the superior courts. In a day, the magistrate court, the sharia court, the customary court can attend  to 20 to 25 cases.

Courts sit in mud houses, rented shops and dilapidated structures?

We are in mud houses, and we are in rented shops in most cases. How do you expect people to get justice there? I will give you pictures of some courts, you will wonder at what these people call courts, where people will come for justice to be served. There are some states today that in the last 10 years, the judiciary didn’t receive any form of capital projects from the executive arm of government. Is that how one can get justice? Go and do your independent investigations and you’ll find out the dilapidated states of our courts. The capital projects aside, come back to the courts, the overhead some courts are receiving is nothing to write home about. When you need to eliminate corruption, in a situation whereby the paper you are to write complaints, or take litigations you don’t have it, you will have to ask the litigants to go and buy, or when you want to file a summon, you’ll ask a litigant to go and photocopy, you’re giving room for corruption.

The welfare of judiciary workers?

Upon all these unfavourable state of affairs I have revealed here, I have not even come to the general welfare of the staff.

We are pushing for a special package and for a special salary; the salary structure for the judiciary apart from those few peculiar allowances which we were able to get for our members which is even overdue. We have already written a letter to the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission through the JSC and we are waiting for that review of salaries and allowances of judiciary workers. This is where we are today. So, as I said about the financial autonomy of the judiciary, as far as we are concerned, the financial autonomy of the judiciary is non-negotiable. It will help the judiciary in all these areas. So, we will continue to pursue it, and make sure it is secured.

Sudden death of NULGE President, Khalleel and struggle for local government autonomy?

Every mortal will face death one way or the other. I have lost a friend, a brother who I can describe as a blood brother. I was very close to him. He was very humble, gentle, intelligent, articulate and a harmless person. I have known him for a long time. For those of us who attended his burial, we have learnt a very great lesson. On the day Khaleel died, I was in my room because we lodged in the same hotel. We arrived the same day and were about to attend the meeting for World Decent Day at the Labour House in Abuja, but I couldn’t attend because of other engagements of my sector, but Khaleel went to attend that event. He left and we couldn’t see until when I arrived at my hotel in the evening. Khalleel sent a message to me that he went for training, and when he comes back, we would meet. The next thing I heard was a call that I should come to the hospital, that Khaleel has collapsed. I rushed to the hospital. I thank God that I happen to see the last of Khalleel lying down on his car, closing his eyes. I said Khalleel, and he said Marwan. I could not believe what was happening. We prayed, and we did what we could do as friends and colleagues in the struggle. We left the hospital around 3am. The President of the congress, Wabba, the President of NUT, the former President of NURTW, Najeem, all of us. The next thing is to move his corpse to Kano. From the airport, thousands of people were waiting for us, to Wudil, we met different people on the road and in the house. At least more than one million attended the  funeral of Khalleel. That shows you the kind of person he was. Khalleel has gone forever, but God willing, his legacy in the struggle will remain alive.

Khalleel fought, and I know what it means because we are in the same shoe. The issue of autonomy, local government that he fought is the issue that the executive arm of government, in particular, the governors are seriously resisting and fighting back. So, I know what he has gone through to realize what he had realized. Although it didn’t see the full light of the day, I am sure that those who took over from Khalleel will continue. We in the struggle, in the labour movement, will give all necessary support and cooperation to ensure that the dream becomes a reality.

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