Okey Ndibe
I am used to reading shocking or bewildering headlines in Nigerian
newspapers. So, at first glance, I thought little of it when a friend
emailed me a scanned copy of a report in last Tuesday’s edition of the
Sun newspaper. Written by Godwin Tsa, the report was titled “Judge weeps
in court over allegations of bias.” I had every intention of ignoring
the report. Yet, something drew me to it.
After reading it, I was overcome with a deep sense of sadness. And,
more than the sadness, I felt a great outrage about the many ways
Nigeria’s judiciary has been reduced to a shadow of its once glorious
self.
As it turned out, the report was an appalling reminder of the
devaluation of virtually all sectors of Nigeria. But first, let me
reproduce most of the report for the benefit of those who didn’t get to
read it.
It began: “A Judge of the Abuja Division of the National Industrial
Court Justice Moren Esowe lost control of her emotions as she wept
openly in court over allegations of bias brought against her.
“She was the presiding judge in the suit instituted by Ambassador
D.C.B. Nwanna, challenging the moves by the Director-General of the
Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ezekiel Oladeji, to
prematurely retire him from service.
“But when the matter was called for further hearing, a tearful
Justice Esowe painfully narrated to lawyers, litigants and members of
the public in court the facts of a malicious petition against her,
accusing her of manifest bias in favor of the claimant because she is
from the same ethnic group (Igbo) with him.
“The said petition addressed to the President of the court also
alleged that the judge had vowed to recall the claimant from the illegal
and unlawful lockout the agency imposed on him. It further accused
Justice Esowe of acting in contravention of her oath of office, which,
according to the petitioner, was to protect government and its
officials.
“Justice Esowe tearfully insisted that she was innocent of the false
accusations against her and prayed that God Almighty who is the
ultimate judge will vindicate and justify her in [the] fullness of time.
Her words: ‘Somebody has written a petition to the president of the
Court accusing me of bias against the defendants because I’m from the
same ethnic group as the claimant. Since my days as a judge I have never
handled a case with so much pressure on me. Today the biggest threat
facing those who killed the soul of innocent people is by lying against
them.’
“Speaking on the development, counsel to the claimant, Mr. Francis
Maduekwe described it as unfortunate and brazen and [an] audacious
misdemeanor on the part of the petitioners. He said since the matter
started the director-general has shown actions that should be of grave
concern to the Federal Government as they constituted impunity and
executive recklessness which were at variance with President Goodluck
Jonathan’s avowed commitment to the enthronement of due process, the
rule of law and respect for the judiciary.
“Ambassador Nwanna returned to the country sometime in April at the
end of his foreign assignment as Deputy High Commission to the Court of
St. James (London) and reported to work at the headquarters of the
agency. But to his surprise, the guards informed him at the gate that
the director general had left instructions that he should never be
allowed into the premises or any of the installations of the agency.
“The matter became a subject of litigation before the National
Industrial Court. However, during the pendency of the case, agents of
the defendants served the claimant with a letter purportedly terminating
his appointment. The claim before the court is simply for a declaration
of the court that the claimant is not yet due from compulsory
retirement from service...”
Assuming that this report factually captured what transpired in
court, then the events in the whole case must be seen as deeply
disturbing. Forget the terrible condition of Nigerian roads, the absence
of sound healthcare, and the epileptic nature of electric power – the
greatest threat to Nigerians is, in my view, the awful collapse of any
sense of the rule of law. And this collapse, I suggest, is a product of
many years of national indifference to the erosion of standards of
judicial practice. We have all failed to insist on, and work towards, a
fiercely independent judiciary.
There are several worrisome aspects of the above report. One: the
idea that an Igbo judge should not be allowed to preside over a case in
which the claimant is also Igbo is patently absurd. There are manifest
dangers in adopting an ethnic test in judicial matters. It amounts to
stating that ethnic claims are superior to legal principles and facts,
and that judges are not intellectually and morally equipped to rise
above clannish considerations.
It’s an open secret that many unworthy men and women have been
elevated to positions as judges. Unfortunately, out of self-interest,
the governors and presidents whose task it is to nominate candidates for
judicial positions often look for mediocre candidates. They seek to
fill the judiciary with pliable judges willing to do the bidding of
those in power, instead of those with stellar credentials, by which I
mean sound legal minds, moral integrity, and utmost respect for the
sacredness of the judicial role.
Perhaps, then, the uninspiring quality of Nigeria’s judiciary owes
to this deliberate dilution in the caliber of those invited to become
judges. Even so, the appellate process is a sensible safeguard against
some of the worst excesses and failures of weak judges.
It is a bad day already in Nigeria. But for parties to a case to be
allowed to play the ethnic card and disqualify a judge is, quite simply,
deplorable. Where do we go from there? No matter the ethnicity of the
judge who gets the case file, some ethnic ruse can be invented and
deployed against him or her.
It seems to me that the case Mr. Nwanna filed against the NIA is
straightforward enough. The ambassador is pleading, simply, that his
retirement from service was premature. There are civil service and other
official rules that govern retirements. Both the claimant and
defendants have the same opportunity to invoke those rules in making
their case in court. A judge should be able to examine the submissions
and come to a reasoned verdict.
The case is all the more worrisome for the petitioners to accuse the
judge, essentially, of disloyalty to the government and its
functionaries. If it’s true that the authors of the petition against
Justice Esowe suggested that her loyalty ought to lie with the
government, then they should be identified and shamed. A judge’s mission
is to see to it that the cause of justice is served at all times and in
all cases. In the free exercise of their mandate, informed and
self-respecting judges frequently rule against (powerful) governments
and in favor of (weak) citizens and (vulnerable) groups.
The Nigerian Intelligence Agency ought to be a leader in combating
the widening plague of sectarian violence in the country. The agency
ought to be invested in shaping a culture where the rule of law and
respect for the judiciary are widely embraced. Yet, the reported
treatment of Mr. Nwanna – a former deputy high commissioner in London –
by the agency’s DG leaves much to be desired. Why would a man be
reassigned from his office in London only to be locked out of his office
in Abuja? Is that kind of swashbuckling worthy of a serious leader of
an intelligence agency? Why was the DG in such indecent haste to retire a
man who has gone to court to seek enforcement of his right to
unfettered access to his office? And why should the DG of an agency
charged with securing Nigeria against serious national and international
threats embark on a misadventure by using the ethnic argument to impugn
the character of a judge? It all bespeaks a culture of recklessness and
intimidation. It’s as if the director-general feels entitled to having
things his way. And when he cannot, he must bulldoze any person or
institution in the way.
Mr. Nwanna’s lawyer, Francis Maduekwe, made the right call when he
accused the agency’s director-general of acting with “impunity.” The
agency’s DG should not be permitted to get away with dictating which
judge may hear Mr. Nwanna’s case. That’s conduct unbecoming of the
leader of a major national security agency.
That impunity should not stand. The president of the National
Industrial Court ought to order a thorough investigation of Justice
Esowe’s allegation that she had been subjected to undue pressure over
Ambassador Nwanna’s case. What’s the nature of that pressure? And where
did the illicit pressure come from? In the end, unless he discovers that
Justice Esowe had compromised herself in the case, the court president
should order her to proceed with the case.
A clear message ought to be sent here: that no agency or person,
however powerful, should meddle with the judiciary. If Justice Esowe can
be removed from a case on account of her ethnic identity, then the
judiciary’s unflattering image would have reached a new low point.
Lawyers, other judges, civil society activists, legislators, and
enlightened citizens ought to pay attention to Justice Esowe’s tears.
And they should rise in unison to resist this latest threat to the
independence of a judiciary that is already bedeviled by too many
scandals and acts of executive meddlesomeness.
Saharareporters
