When it is unfair to savage the judiciary

Corruption is so pervasive in Nigeria that it is by not surprising that there are now well known corrupt members of the higher bench. One clear pointer to judicial gross misconduct is the regularity with which the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC), headed by the country’s chief justice, penalizes judges and makes its actions public knowledge.  There has never been any point in Nigeria’s history when so many members of the bench have been punished for professional misconduct as now. The NJC, a creation of the 1999 Constitution, is having a salutary effect on our polity. Academic purists who criticize the NJC as a contradiction of the principle of federalism are obviously in grave error. Where would our democracy and even the country itself have been today without the NJC?

However, it does seem that some elements are hiding under the shadow of the commendable anti-graft war in the country to wage a most unconscionable war against noble judges for purely private and political ends. The best example is the well choreographed media campaign against the Enugu state Chief Judge, Justice Innocent Umezulike, a former law lecturer at three leading universities whose books and erudite judgments earned him long ago the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) national honour. The main charge against the chief judge is forgery and false pretence. He is accused of signing the execution order by the state chief judge made in 1985 when he was not a member of the bench, let alone a chief judge.

The accusation arose from the judgment given by the Chief Judge of old Anambra State, now today’s Ebonyi, Anambra and Enugu states, with headquarters in Enugu. The Anambra state chief judge then, Justice Paul K. Nwokedi, gave a judgment in a case involving the family of APC Iloabachie , an architect from Ogidi in Idemmili North Local Government Area of today’s Anambra state. The judgment could not be executed immediately because one of the parties to the dispute proceeded to the Court of Appeal against the decision and from there to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Anambra state had been split into Ebonyi, Enugu and Anambra states and Mr Justice P. K. Nwokedi had been elevated from being a state chief judge to a Supreme Court justice. Before the Supreme Court could deliver judgment on the Iloabachie family matter, The Hon Justice Nwokedi had retired from the Nigerian judiciary and relocated to his hometown of Achalla in Awka North Local Government of Area of Anambra State.

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the then Anambra State Chief Judge, P. K. Nwokedi. Therefore, the judgment had to be executed immediately. Since Nwokedi was no longer on the Bench in Anambra State, the person holding the office of the Enugu State Chief Judge, The Hon Justice Umezulike, signed it, in accordance with Section 287, subsection one of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. It was not possible to recall Justice Nwokedi from retirement and make him the chief judge of Enugu state so that he could sign the execution order. Nor was it sensible to ask him to sign it in 2015 and backdate it to 1985. The fact that Mr Justice Umezulike signed the order in his capacity as the chief judge of Enugu State provided the ground for a particular lawyer based in Enugu to accuse him of forgery and false pretence!

Of course, there is more to it than meets the eye. Mr Justice Umezulike informed the Eastern Nigerian Bar Forum in Enugu on Friday, March 6, 2016, that the lawyer in question has two different cases of forgery before his court. The Iloabachie family of Ogidi in Anambra state is accusing him of forging the will of Architect APC Iloabachie, their patriarch. What is more, Mrs Ifeoma Nkwocha, wife of one of the foremost building contractors in Enugu, Chief Reuben O. Nkwocha, an indigene of Enugwu Ukwu in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, went to court against him for allegedly tampering with the husband’s will in respect of his property at 44 Imoke Street, GRA, Enugu. The lawyer has refused to come forward to answer these charges. Consequently, the chief judge was constrained to issue a warrant for his arrest.

There is another reason no one seems to want to broach: the chief judge has given judgments unfavourable to some politicians from Enugu state who are based in Abuja. It is generally believed that the lawyer is being financed in his campaign by the politicians. This explanation looks pretty plausible. The campaign against Justice Umezulike is well oiled. There is hardly any newspaper or electronic media in Nigeria which has not carried news stories and articles against the chief judge by the lawyer. Needless to state, there have been petitions to the National Judicial Council, which were however them for lack of merit.

True, judges are strongly encumbered in their response to public criticisms. For instance, they cannot call press conferences and address issues, unlike members of the other two arms of government, namely, the legislature and executive. They cannot grant even ordinary informal press interviews. Some clever people now capitalize on this situation to execute their own private agendas against some members of the judiciary. In the case of Mr Justice Umezulike, the media have failed a basic principle of journalism and natural justice: always hear the other side. Of course, they could not have gone to the Enugu State chief judge for his own side of the story, but they could have approached the head of the public relations unit of the Ministry of Justice.

The ongoing savagery against the Enugu State Chief Judge in the media is just unjustifiable and unconscionable. Mr Justice Umezulike, OFR, has not more than three or so years to remain in office.

Ikechukwu Nnamani