“Take all the robes of all the good judges that have ever lived on the face of the earth, and they would not be large enough to cover the iniquity of one corrupt judge.” – Henry Ward Beecher
Set aside the above quote and read this retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Sam Uwaifo, JSC. He succinctly underscores the danger posed by one bad judge to society: “I won’t say [the] Nigeria[n] judiciary is corrupt, but it cannot be denied that there are some corrupt judges. A corrupt judge is more harmful to society than a man who runs amok with a dagger in a crowded street.”
No doubt nothing captures the danger of corrupt judges better than the two quotes rendered above. Furthermore, they bring to the fore the likely consequence(s) to a fractured nation of unjust rulings in the very volatile and tricky election petitions. The importance of justice cannot be overemphasized because the country appears to be at a standstill, awaiting their wisdom or lack of it. That our electoral laws seem like a fractured rhythm ahead of the petition hearing is a fallout of the divergent interests and in line with the popular saying in the legal circle that the more corrupt a state, the more corrupt its laws.
This results in efforts to maneuver and find escape routes for particular interests and in the process the laws are stretched beyond their original intent. It’s therefore against this backdrop that no one will envy Nigeria’s judiciary, especially the 10 jurists ( comprising three appellate judges and seven at the nation’s apex court) who will adjudicate on petitions arising from the presidential polls.
Ordinarily, the bad job of Prof Mahmoud Yakubu and his team at INEC and the bashing they have received so far would have made it easy for the learned justices to arrive at their decisions quickly and be able to meet the expectations of the former President of the Nigeria Bar Association, Olisa Agbokoba (SAN) on the time frame for the trial. He believes that the presidential election adjudication could be successfully determined before May 29. But it’s not as easy as that in any political matter in this country where counsel to the parties in the petitions usually engage in filibustering to attempt to sway cases in favor of their clients.
When President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat in 2015, some lawyers felt denied the opportunity of juicy briefs, but Nigeria and the global democratic community benefited greatly. The democracy lovers doffed its hat for Nigeria, recording it as a huge leap in Africa and knowing that whatever Nigeria gets right is bound to spread to the rest of the continent and the Third World.
Eight years after, the very government that directly benefited from that decent conduct exhibited by Jonathan was not only unable to conduct a free and fair election but came out with the worst electoral afflictions and cross-to-bear attitude in our history.
Foremost democracy thinkers like the French philosopher Montesquieu envisaged all the present hullabaloo, hence the establishment of the three arms of government to checkmate one another. The executive is the first arm, the legislature the second, and the judiciary the third with a distant but vibrant press as the fourth estate of the realm. Among the three, the judiciary is the only one whose operatives are not politicians by careerists who are expected to be neutral and unbiased in their handling of issues.
As the executive implements government programs for which it’s been elected, the legislators enact the laws, and the judiciary has the onus of interpreting the laws and adjudicating in the event of conflicts. What stands it out is that it resolves all disputes no matter who is involved and whatever it says stands as law and final. When providence places such weighty responsibilities on you, abusing it for whatever reason(s), whether religious, ethnic, colour, political, class or pecuniary inducements brings such operatives before the throne of grace for examination.
The consequences of such misuse of privilege can be far-reaching as history can bearer witness that some judges who rendered obnoxious rulings [even at night] and played ignoble, despicable, and low-down roles in Nigeria’s past political impasses, had accompanying ugly stories for those who even survived.
By default, the judiciary is there as the last hope of the aggrieved or oppressed, often referred to as the common man. It acts as the fallback, as the last desire and optimism before the almighty God. The inimitable and peerless position of judicial operatives places enormous responsibilities on them. You can imagine the fate of the over two hundred million citizens of this country being tied to the whims and caprices of petition adjudicators with their individual and different dispositions and predilections.
You can imagine also millions of people being called out to vote on election day only for the electoral umpire to fail people, giving rise to the transfer of its huge responsibility to justices.
Whether we accept it or not, this country is seated on a time bomb today. What if the judges fail to right the wrong of INEC and disappoint the people? It is trite to state that the hopes and aspirations of the populace are all hanging on them. The consequence is unimaginable, just as getting it right has far-reaching positives. Where we are now, driving our nation almost to the point of hitting the dyke entails that these justices understand the magnitude and the enormity of what is before them.
If they follow the law and consider their families and nation’s future and their conscience, they may get it right and be adequately guided by God. However, if they decide to look and be carried away by the swashbuckling, bamboozling, hoodwinking, and out-maneuvering of juicy brief-seeking lawyers and their hirers, they may find themselves entangled in the messy waters of judicial declarations and get recorded in Nigeria’s chapter of bad judges.
No one can say better the catastrophic consequences of a failed law and order in society than Martin Luther King, Jr, who once had this to say: “Law and order exist to establish justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”
For four years now, hundreds of innocent citizens have been wasted in Imo State as a consequence of a judgment removing an elected governor that remains unexplained. Yes, none of the Supreme Court justices that delivered that obscure and arcane judgment is from Imo State, but the bloodshed going on is that of human beings created by God. They deserve and need protection from unjust harm.
To think that harm caused by your action or inaction has no consequences on you is to forget that every human being is of one creation and that whatever happens to the nose is bound to affect the eyes and the face. It’s easy to make positive history if you mean well and stand on the side of truth and God [the omnipotent and the omnipresent] who sees our hearts and reads our minds.
What drives democracy all over the world is the people’s knack for justice, and their predisposition to injustice makes it even inevitable. In all, American polymath, Benjamin Frankin, sums it up: “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
Here is our parting question this week: Are we all, including the justices not outraged and visibly indignant with the situation in our dear country today? Can these Justices stand by their conscience and cleanse the Augean stable? Only time will tell. God, help us.
