The Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN,Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen, has said corruption is a sensitive issue in the Nigerian judiciary. Onnoghen spoke at the 2-day National Dialogue on Corruption which held at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday. The CJN said, “As the head of the Nigerian judiciary, the issue of corruption is a sensitive one. The judiciary finds itself being battered left, right and center. So, what should the Chief Justice of Nigeria say on an occasion like this which will not appear as if it is in defence of his institution or shielding the bad eggs few of which I admit exist. Or just what will I say except to assure Nigerians that the Nigerian judiciary remains very much committed and in complete support of the effort at caging corruption in Nigeria. I stand for the Committee and other agencies in the fight against the scourge. I will like us to realise that corruption thrives (or any other form of injustice) thrives in a culture of impunity.
“Wherever you have a culture of impunity, you will have corruption. Because people believe I must have this. It must be this or nothing. It must be me and me alone. So, they throw away the constitutional provisions that have been drafted to guide our daily activities, inter-governmental, inter-personal; they throw away the principles of Rule of Law. “But the judiciary holds this principles in care because that is the only way by which you can ensure an orderly society and ensure the good and maintenance of democracy and justice for us. So, if you are to fight corruption then you fight the culture of impunity which is an attitudunal phenomenon, by adhering strictly to the constitutional provision of the rule of law. If we allow the rule of law to reign, then you will agree with me there will be a dramatic reduction in corruption and injustice.
“That’s speaking for myself, that’s how I see it. Ask yourself; corruption, the judiciary always stands accused. In fact, it appears the paint and the brush…it seems to be an institution that epitomizes corruption. That’s not fair. That’s not correct. A Nigerian judicial officer is a gentleman. You have gentlemen on that bench. And by the nature of that institution, the judiciary, it is crafted and designed in a such a way that a judicial officer can only seen not heard.
“Not that he has nothing to say even in defence of himself? So, when you are dealing with judicial corruption when one exists, you have to do it in accordance with the rule of law and then, channel whatever you have through the appropriate channels so that you don’t destroy that institution. Because destroying it will not make any good. It will do it more harm than good. The institution is so painted as if we are not doing enough. Yes we can do more. But for now, you have EFCC and ICPC for instance, building all data of cases that have been successfully prosecuted in the courts of law. So, if the judiciary is not doing well, you find out the report card from them.
“So, whatever problems that exist in the cause of prosecuting their cases, let them bring them up, identify them and let us see how best we can improve on the system and not make it appear as if the judiciary is not doing anything. It takes three people to prosecute a case like I said yesterday. You have the investigator who has to investigate. You have prosecutor who has to prosecute based on the result or evidence gathered from the investigation. Then you have the judge who has to weigh and balance the scale between the accused person and the government, the power-that-be, to arrive at a decision. When you have a shoddily investigated case, poorly prosecuted one and you expect the judge who is under oath, judicial oath, to do justice to all manner of persons without fear of favour or ill will, to respect you on balancing the scale, to convict willy-nilly, this can never be done. I can assure you of that. No judicial officer will get himself involved in that. Do you know why? “Because, a Judicial officer’s witness is time. Time is the only witness to a judicial officer. So, only time can tell. Tomorrow, these things will be reviewed. He could have committed suicide by the decision he arrived at.
“I have gone through, call all the heads of courts in this country, federal and state courts, and they furnished me with data on EFCC, ICPC, terrorism cases and high profile commercial cases, and one thing I can remember, funny enough, most of the cases are abandoned in the court. When you see statistics, so many cases are filed and judgment has not been delivered. These cases have been abandoned. The Judge is always there. But the prosecutor decides to just abandon and find a reason and stop coming to court. There is an instruction to judicial officers that they should not strike out as a policy. You should not strike out such cases. “They should not remain there. So that when they start striking them out, you say, oh, the judiciary is striking them when they should prosecute these cases to conclusion. I wish you very, very good time for you to look at this time holistically and let us have a way forward. But remember always that a judicial officer can really be seen and not heard. “So, whatever decisions the agencies would arrive at, they should not put us in a situation that later on when you know the whole truth comes out and a big mess had been committed and the man will spend the whole of his life under that kind of yoke. It is not only demoralizing, it is killing the spirit of the judiciary. So, I wish you very good deliberations.”
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