Contempt: When the judge is on trial

To start with, any act or publication that flouts the authority and dignity of the court and thereby causes or is likely to cause an obstruction or interference of court is regarded as contempt.The basic principle is to provide an enabling environment for our courts to perform their constitutional functions.The rationale for punishment for contempt, […]

To start with, any act or publication that flouts the authority and dignity of the court and thereby causes or is likely to cause an obstruction or interference of court is regarded as contempt.
The basic principle is to provide an enabling environment for our courts to perform their constitutional functions.
The rationale for punishment for contempt, according to Justice Nnamani JSC of blessed memory (in the case of Sunday Okoduwa & 6 others V. The state (1986) 2 NWLR (pt. 76) 333 at 345) is the need to vindicate the dignity of the court and thereby protect due administration of justice rather than to bolster the power and dignity of the judge as an individual.
Be it direct (also known as contempt in facie curiae, i.e in the face of the court) or indirect (also known as ex facie curiae i.e words spoken, published or acts done outside the presence of the court), civil or criminal contempt. There is the urgent need to retake court’s dignity if people have to continue to come to court to have their grievances resolved.
One of the major objections to the law of contempt has been its uncertainty since it is subject to determination by the judge.
Another is that the trial judge is often seen as the complainant, the prosecutor and the judge (all three joined) in his own case.
The court ruled recently that the former president was in contempt, and gave him 21 days to demonstrate why he should not be punished.
Chief Obasanjo said he was dissatisfied with the ruling handed by the judge, Valentine Ashi, saying the court acted in error in the first place by barring him from publishing his new book.
Obasanjo, through his counsels, led by Gboyega Oyewole, challenged the ruling at the Court of Appeal Abuja, on 10 grounds.
Obasanjo said he had completed and published his book before the judge gave his initial order.
He also rejected the court’s order to security agencies to seize all copies of the book allegedly released in Lagos.
The judge’s earlier ruling was to the effect that the book launch be put on hold as it contained details of a libel case already pending before a court.
The alleged libel case involves a drug trafficking allegation made by Obasanjo against Buruji Kashamu, a chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the Southwest.
Kashamu had requested the court order to stop the release of the book, citing the case.
But the move is believed to have been a cover to block Obasanjo from making public some of his most scathing assessments of President Goodluck Jonathan, as allegedly contained in the book.
Kashamu is believed to be an ally of President Jonathan.
Recently, the former president allegedly defied the court order and proceeded with the book launch saying the judge acted in error and deserved to be sanctioned.
In Nigeria, the offences known as contempt of court as well as jurisdiction or authority of the courts to punish are statutory and constitutional under the inherent power of the courts.
According to Uzoefuna Ifeoma, in a paper presented recently at a workshop for judicial correspondents at the National Judicial Institute (NJI), a judge faced with a contempt proceeding must draw the attention of the contemnor to what he had said or done and then call on him to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt.
The court, specifically in a ruling, gave Obasanjo 21 days to demonstrate why he should not be punished for going ahead to publish the book.
The court also ordered the Inspector General of Police, the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS) and the Comptroller of Customs to recover all the books, from book stands, sales agents, vendors, the sea and airports and deposit them with the court’s registrar pending the determination of the case.
The court said it was immaterial that the book was published before the interim orders were made.
The court said Obasanjo should not have in the first place published the book since the Kashamu case was already in court.
The judge also rejected claims by Obasanjo’s lawyer that Kashamu failed to produce the book to prove it contained libelous details.
The judge said it was the duty, instead, of the defendant, in whose custody the book was, to show the court that the plaintiff’s fear was misplaced.
Court said Obasanjo’s failure to do so, showed he had something to hide.
Some people said that no other court judgment in Nigeria since 1960 has been this correct 100 per cent in law. But others said that the judgment is not even 3 per cent correct in common sense, not to mention law.
Yet others believe that since the book was already in public domain, the court case was irrelevant, adding that even during military, Nigerians still had a way of buying Tell, The News and Tempo magazines that were all proscribed by the junta.
However, Ekiti government has condemned Obasanjo for the alleged contempt of court, urging the judiciary to sanction him for openly violating the court’s order.
In a statement issued recently in Ado Ekiti by Mr Owoseni Ajayi, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice on behalf of the state government, he said sanction was necessary as it would serve as deterrent to others who see themselves as super powers far and above the laws of the land.
Ajayi said the sanctity of the judiciary should be respected and protected, noting that it was embarrassing that a former president could behave with impunity “disregarding the rights of other Nigerians and recently became contemptuous of court orders.”
“He even castigated the judge for granting the lawful order thereby making himself an Appellate Court,” the statement said.