Opinion: Judiciary Has Locked Us In a National Prison of Injustice; Time To Get Bailed

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Judiciary has been described as the last hope of common man which was to provide a basic modicum of justice through a mix of professional norms, transparency, and fairness but justice delivery in my country today has become cash-nexus where justices are up for sale and the judges exchange them with cash from the highest bidders.

Due to lack of political will, our courts in the past have been exempted from the same level of scrutiny as parliament and our politicians, even though there have been pervasive, corporate attack on judicial integrity, and what has come to fore today is that a lack of aligned interests, secrecy, and corruption are eroding our judicial system. Today, the scales of justice; whether criminal or civil matters weigh nothing but gold and cash. Judicial junkets” are now all too common; during these junkets, judges are now given lavish corporate vacations under the guise of education and training, and even have investments in land and industries by clients who broke the banks to get justice with significant decisions pending before their courts. Talk about misaligned incentives.

The resilience of any political system are tested by the four key elements of visibility, integrity, choice and aligned interest but the judiciary is locking us in a national prison of injustice as these elements are all increasingly missing from our corporate funded courts today as a result of pervasive corruption.

Every court in the country has justice as its putative goal; every judge in the land should see these people as aligned with their job. Many judges do see their job as one of protecting and preserving justice in Nigeria but increasingly, the incentives in the system cut against such a noble attitude. Electoral system has been under serious attack by corrupt judiciary which has given rise in most cases; bad leaders as elected officers. Corrupt judicial system has been foot-dragging the country in its democratic journey as various election victories are upturned not on merit but by the pocket size of the petitioners or respondents as the case may be. After each election, the judicial businesses open in court where a governor who won his election by the popular votes of the people has to spend millions of Naira belonging to the public in defending such victory or a candidate rejected by the people turned out to be the governor on the backing of cash.

In Ghana, In August 2015, a journalist; Anas Aremeyaw Anas revealed that he had evidence showing judges demanding bribes and sex to influence judgements in court cases and without wasting much time, the regulatory body for judges in that country took “prompt and resolute” action to “redeem” the image of the judiciary. 34 judges and magistrates were thoroughly investigate and in December 2015, the Chief justice of the country announced the sack of 20 judges and magistrates for collecting bribes which he said has brought the judiciary into disrepute. The same thing should happen in Nigeria to cleanse the justice system. I therefore commend the political will of President Muhammadu Buhari by taking the bull by the horn as he goes after corrupt judges with clear evidence. Screaming of DSS not following due process in their arrest; are due processes followed any time the men in gown trade justice?   The DSS has the constitutional mandate to arrest at any given time and interrogate any person with criminal or questionable character.

I urge our journalist to do more in the area of investigation to expose the forces trying to turn our courts into a forum for bought justice because justice corrupted by money is justice denied.

By Onogwu Muhammad Galacticus


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