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The United Nations Workplace on Medicine and Crimes (UNODC) says corruption is prevalent within the Nigerian judiciary.
A consultant of the UNODC, Melissa Omene, mentioned this on Friday at a judicial accountability occasion in Abuja.
The occasion was organised by Tapinitiative, a not-for-profit organisation
Talking on a 2019 survey that was performed by the UNODC and the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Ms Omene mentioned the survey “discovered that 20 per cent of those that had contact with the Nigerian judiciary had been confronted with a request for the fee of a bribe.
“Certainly, corruption within the Nigerian judiciary is intensive and each female and male judges are get together to it.”
Giving a comparative evaluation of the difficulty, a UNODC examine on gender and corruption in 2020, disclosed that “male judges are much more prone to be concerned in bribe-seeking conduct than their feminine colleagues.”
The examine mentioned corruption amongst judicial officers had eroded “public confidence within the judiciary.”
‘Why public belief in judiciary waning’
Weighing in on the standard of justice dispensation by Nigerian courts, a lawyer, Jibrin Okutepa, blamed legal professionals and judges for the lack of public confidence within the judicial system.
Mr Okutepa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a former member of the Authorized Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), mentioned the nation is in an ethical decay.
He decried the conduct of senior legal professionals who compromise judges to get beneficial verdicts.
“There isn’t a accountability from the judiciary as a result of the Nigerian society doesn’t demand accountability,” he mentioned.
The lawyer criticised the method of appointment of judges that’s based mostly on “rationing.”
Mr Okutepa identified that latest judgements of the Supreme Court docket on essential circumstances dealt a deadly blow to public confidence within the judiciary to do justice on issues that come earlier than it.
“The Supreme Court docket has elevated the foundations of court docket above constitutional provisions. There isn’t a accountability from the Nigerian judiciary,” he submitted.
He lamented that the age-old precept of judicial precedent has been bastardised throughout the courts in Nigeria.
“You may see 5 totally different selections of the Supreme Court docket on one challenge which can be inherently contradictory,” Mr Okutepa mentioned, including that “precedents are set based mostly on who’s earlier than the court docket.”
Within the build-up to final yr’s normal elections, the Supreme Court docket delivered two separate judgements affirming the candidacy of Ahmad Lawan, a former Senate President, and Godswill Akpabio as genuine ticket-holders for the Nationwide Meeting elections of their respective states of Yobe and Akwa Ibom.
Messrs Lawan and Akpabio had been presidential aspirants within the All Progressives Congress and couldn’t have been aspirants on the similar time for the parliamentary polls due to the most recent provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
However the Supreme Court docket in 2022 declared them winners of the legislative main elections of the APC, a improvement that drew outrage amongst shut observers of the Nigerian judiciary.
Mr Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State and minister below ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, would later win the primary election to change into the present Senate President.
Equally, a panellist on the occasion, Chioma Onyenucheya-Uko, mentioned the judiciary missed a possibility to bolster its public picture when the Presidential Election Petition Court docket in Abuja final yr rejected requests by the 2 main opposition candidates – Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi – to have the court docket’s proceedings televised.
The panel, moderated by Lillian Okenwa, a journalist and lawyer, mentioned nepotism was commonplace in judicial appointments.
However, a former decide of the Federal Excessive Court docket, Ibrahim Buba, rated Nigerian judges excessive within the discharge of their duties.
Delivering a keynote tackle on the subject, “Impression of judicial accountability on public belief within the authorized system,” Mr Buba mentioned Nigerian judges stood as much as dictators and democratic leaders of their judicial capabilities.
“…having regards to the situations and setting of labor, with all modesty, I say KUDOS to the Nigerian bar and the Nigerian bench, take away politics, the place individuals differ on opinions and questions of legislation and each could also be proper, the Nigerian judiciary has given an excellent account of itself,” Mr Buba mentioned.
He defined that politicians “who can’t have their manner undermine the independence of the Nigerian judiciary, not solely ravenous it of funds however guaranteeing an erosion of independence of the judiciary and having friction and attempt to take away the chief judges unconstitutionally.”
“Nigerian judges are brave, very, very brave, they’ve dared the navy, they’ve dared the political class, like each society, they’ve additionally dealt even with their colleagues who’re discovered wanting.”
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