The Nigerian Judiciary: The departing glory

By 

Bayo Ogunyemi

For the nascent democratic rule to survive in Nigeria, there must be a virile and dependable judiciary system. A judiciary system that would not only be independent but stands as the watchdog and hope of common man. These are the submission of the first High Court Judge of the former South Eastern State, Justice Peter Odo Effiong Bassey in his book The Nigerian Judiciary: The Departing Glory. The book, a 266-page lucid review of activities of the Nigerian judiciary since independence is a compendium of activities, atrocities, acrimony and excessive corrupt of power that effectively erode the glory of judiciary.

In all frankness and sincerity, the writer who happened to be a victim of the same system reviewed the Nigerian judiciary system vis-à-vis the mode of appointment of the judges, their condition of service and the impediments that distort the wheel of the machinery of justice in the polity.

There are 12 chapters in the book and each gives a revelation of happenings in the Nigerian judiciary system over the period under review. Bassey chronicles his history of Nigerian judiciary from the pre-colonial era. He separated the legal institution into two, i.e. civil or criminal. A civil offence, according to him was one that affected an individual only, while a criminal offence affected the welfare and security of the community or its head.

He seized the opportunity made available in this chapter to raise salient points that have prevailed in the annals of Nigerian judiciary, for example, he explained that appointment to the judiciary in the British colonial days followed the British pattern, where appointees were vetted to determine eligibility. The appointee's private life was studied. "Is he someone with financial problem, does his pattern of life indicate living within his means? Is he professionally competent?" he submitted. The author is also quick to state that no sooner than the British left the shores of Nigeria that Nigerians started dismantling these safeguards put in place by the British masters. "It became the practice for those who failed at the bar to be encouraged to become magistrates. The genesis of the decadence in the ensuing system as he said was when the Judicial Service Commission, highly acknowledged and embraced by Nigerians and even Commonwealth was scrapped by the politicians.

The next chapter is a vox populi criticisms of the judicial system by Nigerians of different backgrounds were published. Most of these criticisms were drawn from editorial comments and opinions of prominent national newspapers. They were frank and constructive though, with the aim of improving the lot of the ailing sector.

The type of treatments that are constantly meted to the Nigerian judges at the bench constitute the next chapter. The author, dwelling more on personal experience explained how Nigerian politicians margnalised the judges in the scheme of things. He writes about the perennial accommodation problems that have bedeviled the system, the deliberate starving of judges with funds, which is prevalent in the meagre salary paid them as well as constant and unjust dismissal of judges with the aim of throwing them to public odium.

This septuagenarian author is also unequivocal in mentioning those things he considers constitute threat to the very foundation of judiciary. These, he adumbrated in the forth chapter of the book. As he put it, they are failure to respect the authority of the court, failure of the government to carry out judgments of the courts as well as indiscriminate sacking of judges. He (the author) affirmed his writings with opinions and submissions of other distinguished law scholars and constitutional provisions . Not only that, his belief in press as the forth estate of the realm could have informed his citation of several comments of journalistic origins. Aliyi Ekeneh, the secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association at independence, Justice Ephraim Akpata, the late chairman of Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC), Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, one of the most reliable Nigerians and the chairman of the Human Rights Offences Commission, Justice Akinola Aguda, one-time Chief Justice of Ondo State and Botswana, had their comments on judiciary as reference in this book.

The issue of sacks and dismissals in the judiciary seems to be paramount to the author, to such an extent that a whole chapter (chapters) was committed to discussing, the abrupt and unjust intimidation of judges by both the military and civilian rulers of the nation. He (the author) made severe attempt to narrate and give an analytical details in these circumstances. This chapter is revealing and connotes those acts of the government, that resulted into gross abuse of human rights. Himself, being a victim of his executive lawlessness, had to rely on his experience in justifying his stand on this particular issue.

To round off, Bassey made suggestions as to rectify the terrible state of Nigerian judiciary. He initiated vital steps of salvaging the decaying judiciary which has indeed gone down to a very low ebb. He equally averred that, this became imperative when one considers the fact that legal bodies that might have strengthened the judiciary have erred on, slacked in this discharge of their responsibilities. In this case, he mentioned such organisation as the Advisory Judiciary Committee, the Nigerian Bar Association and the Nigerian Police as culpable.

He suggested that the cleansing should start from the process of guaranteeing the security of judges of the Supreme Court, judges of the Federal Court of Appeal and judges of the Federal High Courts as well as all the judges of the state High Courts be made exclusively by a Federal Judicial Service Commission.

As a prelude to this book, the illicit regimes of former dictators, Ibrahim Babangida and Sanni Abacha came under scrutiny. The author, under different headings, reviewed the disposition of these regimes to issues concerning the judiciary; their illegal antics of corruption the system, their numerous atrocities against the people and the state, and how they subjected the other arms of government to their whims and caprices. Here in those chapters, great revelations were made and he proffers solution to the illegality called coup.

Justice Bassey, the author of this book is a barrister at law with 40 years of experience. He enrolled at Lincoln's Inn in 1955 and entered the University Hall that same year. He was called to bar on June24, 1958 following which he set up a law practice firm in Port Harcourt on arrival in Nigeria.

With a very short spate of time, he became successful at the bar. He was a prominent member of the state branch of NBA. In 1968, although reluctantly, he accepted to become the first High Court Judge of South Eastern State. His travail with the politicians will for a long time remain a reference point in the annals of judiciary in Nigeria. He was tormented, frustrated, insulted and suffered a lot of embarrassments before he was sent out of service in 1972. Bassey later became a member of the National Executive Committee of the defunct Action Group and its Eastern Nigeria legal adviser. He was to become the National Legal Adviser of the defunct Great Nigeria People's Party.

The book The Nigerian Judiciary: The Departing Glory could be regarded as a synopsis of happenings in the system over a period that spanned over 30 years. It could be found useful by policy makers, human rights associations, lawyers, judges students of law and even layman, who may be further informed of his rights by mere reading the book.