The former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the chairman, Rule of Law Development Foundation, Mr. Joseph Bodunrin Daudu last week accused the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma Muhktar of having overbearing influence on judicial officers in the country.
Although, there hasn’t been any official reaction to some of the issues raised by the former NBA boss from the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC) or the Supreme Court she heads; we should not forget in a hurry no matter how we try to bring in sentiments, how bad things were in the judiciary before now. In as much as I agree with Chief Daudu that judicial officers in the country are mature men and women who deserve to be treated decently, we should also remember that we need a sane judiciary in the country and to achieve this, we should embraced some of the reforms she introduced into the system because it will help the arm of government in the long run, if it is sustained by her successor.
But like I pointed out earlier, there is need for some of the powers she is wielding to be backed up by law. You would recall that the former NBA boss had last week accused the CJN, Justice Mukhtar of reducing Nigerian judicial officers to kindergarten pupils, saying the office of the CJN has no constitutional power to interfere in the administration of other courts apart from the Supreme Court. According to Daudu, in as much as there is need to instill discipline in the system, such discipline must not be at the expense of the rule of law and independence of the judiciary where judges will be subjected to witch hunt, adding that the initiative of the former CJN justice Mohammed Uwais where heads of courts merely notified the office of the CJN as chairman of the NJC remains the best method of monitoring the movement and activities of judicial officers. It is no longer a hidden fact that in the legal profession, people will always criticize you no matter how hard you try to bring sanity into the system because the profession is all about freedom of expression
Nigerians will also not forget in a hurry that even, the Justice Uwais that he so much commended here was accused by some of his colleagues of taking bribe.
If any judge erred or anything goes wrong with the judiciary, the blame goes to her because the buck stops on his table.
The “witch-hunt” she has been accused of to a large extent has assisted in rekindling complete confidence the judiciary had hitherto lost.
As we all know, before her emergence as the CJN, the nation’s judicial system that is supposed to be the last hope of the common man was dominated with a lot of bad eggs. It was so obvious that even, the “insane” on the street knew that with money, you could get justice in Nigeria. I remember vividly before her emergence, once you threaten to take someone to court, they will be happy that the case would drag for a very long time at the end; the aggrieved party would get frustrated and may not pursue the case to end. This woman of substance came with a promise of cleansing the judiciary of the bad eggs which to a large extent, she has succeeded.
She gave judges a specific number of judgments that they should deliver within a stipulated time. Judges are always on their toes now, hurrying to deliver judgment because they are afraid of being petitioned. Those that were in the habit of sitting late have buckled up. Whether we like it or not, the sanity which Nigerians were craving for in our judicial system is gradually coming back.
Instead of criticizing her, what we should be advocating for is to introduce laws that will back up her reforms, bearing in mind that the judiciary is one very important arm of government that once it derails, everything in the government will go bad. Nigerians should learn to accept, welcome and appreciate good things most especially things that will have positive effect on our nation. I am neither a lawyer nor a judge but from what I have seen so far, whether her relationship with members of the bar and bench is that of the ‘headmistress, principal, headmaster’ or whatsoever, it is good so far as Nigerians are seeing results. As the CJN will be bowing out soon, Nigerians are looking forward to whoever her successor will be to do more so that the good work she has done will not be thrown into the mud.
