Falana criticises Wike over house gifts to judges

Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has knocked Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), over his recent house gifts to judges, noting that the minister should not be doling out houses to members of the judiciary when he has cases in court.

Wike had, in September, flagged off the construction of 40 houses for judges in Abuja, sparking public condemnation. Twenty of the houses were allocated to judges of the FCT High Court, while 10 would go to judges of federal high courts and 10 to those in the court of appeal.

Wike, last week, denied that the houses were meant to influence judges for political gain, noting that they were part of President Bola Tinubu’s welfare packages designed to promote the independence of the judiciary.

However, Falana would not take any of that. He said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday that the move was wrong.

“The minister of the Federal Capital Territory operates like a state governor by virtue of the Section 299 of the Constitution. He cannot say I am going to build 40 houses, 10 shall go to the federal high court, 10 shall go to judges in the FCT high court and 10 shall go to the court of appeal and Supreme Court, no.

“Because you are a minister of the federal government like a state governor, your budget is limited to the affairs of the FCT.”

Falana said as the head of the FCT, it is wrong for Wike to be dishing out gifts of cars and houses to judges in the federal high court, in the appeal court and the Supreme Court.

“Number two, you have cases before these courts. On the theory of equality before the court, you cannot be seen to be giving cars or houses to the judges who are going to determine your cases.

“If the executive wants to assist the judiciary, the appropriate approach is to go to the National Assembly. You can have a supplementary budget,” he said.

“If it has been discovered that the judiciary needs housing in Abuja, then the National Assembly should make the necessary appropriations.

“But the constitution does not anticipate that the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, like a governor of Kogi, Ondo, or Cross River State, would offer cars and houses to judges in the federal public sector, no.

“That is why this matter needs to be properly scrutinised and resolved in line with the provisions of the constitution.

“Judges need houses, of course. Judges need cars, of course. They need security, of course. But these should be provided by the NJC within its budget.”