The Cleansing Of The Judiciary

We commend the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter
Onnoghen, who, since he assumed office last year, had pledged to
clean up the judiciary and seems to be fulfilling that promise in
manners that seem unprecedented in the judicial history of
Nigeria.

The National Judicial Council (NJC) recently added to that
record by recommending to President Muhammadu Buhari, the dismissal
of two senior judges: Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal
High Court, who has also been standing trial, and Justice James
Agbadu-Fishim of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria. The NJC,
through its Director of Information, Mr. Soji Oye, said it came to
that conclusion after it had reviewed the petitions against the two
judges at the end of its 87th meeting.

The commission found merit in two different petitions lodged
against Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia by the Acting Chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, who
had alleged that Justice Ofili- Ajumogobia is a Director/Chief
Executive Officer and sole signatory to Nigel and Olive company,
contrary to the code of conduct for judicial officers. The
Commission found that several personalities, individuals,
government officials and business partners lodged funds into
various accounts belonging to the judge. The commission did not
fail to mention the “ex parte communication between the Hon Judge
and Mr. Godwin Obiah (SAN) during the pendency of his matter before
His Lordship.” But the council stated that it could not consider
other allegations in the petition because they were already before
a court where the judge was standing trial, so the court should
decide those aspects.

Equally awful was the case of Justice Fishim. The NJC did
confirm that the judge received various sums of money from
litigants and lawyers that had cases before him and some
influential Nigerians, under the pretence that he was bereaved or
that there was delay in the payment of his salary. Such
subterfuges, the Commission said, were“ contrary to the Code of
Conduct for judicial officers,” and that it had notified President
Buhari of the ingredients of the offence of the two judges and
recommended their immediate dismissal. In the interim, however, the
NJC, in exercising its own disciplinary powers, had ordered the
suspension of both judges pending their removal by the
President.

Even more inspiring is the extent of NJC’s activities to ensure
that petitions against judges are promptly monitored and evaluated.
The NJC disclosed that new petitions written against 26 judicial
officers in both Federal and State high courts were receiving
attention and that four panels have been set up to investigate the
issues raised in the petitions. This is, certainly, a truly active
NJC, perhaps, the most active in Nigerian history. It deserves all
the commendation it is getting. Not only has it boosted the faith
of Nigerians in the judiciary, it has also boosted faith in other
institutions, especially, with the assurance that if everything
fails elsewhere, the aggrieved is confident of receiving justice in
the courts. In a political season as we have now, it is truly
reassuring and we wish the honourable Chief Justice more grease to
his elbows.

We find it to be an exemplary record that since 2017 not less
than 45 judges have been dismissed and many more disciplined. We
observe the fastidious approach of the present NJC in the example
it set with Justice Joshua E. Ikede whose letter of voluntary
retirement, the NJC rejected out of hand when the commission
discovered that the judge had falsified his age and “ought to have
retired since October 1, 2016. The NJC backdated his retirement and
recommended to the Delta State government to deduct from the
retirement benefits of the judge, all salaries received by him from
October 2016 till date and remit such to the NJC “which pays
salaries of all judicial officers in the Federation.” The
commission found a petition written by David Efunwape, a lawyer,
against Justice E.O. Osinuga of the Ogun State High Court to be
false. It is, therefore, forwarding a report to the Legal
Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for “appropriate sanctions for
making false allegations against a judge.” The commission dismissed
many petitions, and in one case decided to warn the petitioner and
asked him to apologise to the Hon. Judge for the false allegation
of inducement.”

We find the activities of the NJC inspiring. We hope other
Nigerian institutions can follow its example.

Culled from Sun Editorial