How judiciary can be on same page with Buhari’s change agenda

Do you think the judiciary is really in tune with the change mantra being preached by this government? Out of the three arms of government, the judiciary is the most difficult because the judges are bound by the procedures of the court, by what the law says and not what they think. The judiciary on […]

Do you think the judiciary is really in tune with the change mantra being preached by this government?
Out of the three arms of government, the judiciary is the most difficult because the judges are bound by the procedures of the court, by what the law says and not what they think. The judiciary on its own cannot hastily adapt to change of the present administration.
I think what should be done to bring the judiciary on board is that there should be amendments that will reflect the current trend in the present government. There should be amendments that will remove the bottlenecks in the judiciary; amendments that will curtail the level of delays and bureaucracy in the judiciary. This is because the judiciary has laid down procedures, rules and they cannot go outside these laws just to suit the fancy of the present administration.
 The judiciary cannot jump the gun and overlook the laid down procedures that have been in existence for decades just because the government is clamouring for change.

 There are concerns over conflicts of court orders in recent times. What is your take on this development?
The court orders that we are seeing as issue may not really be an issue. It is only becoming an issue because some people decided not to follow the due process of procedure of court. When an order is given by a court, the important thing to do is to go back to that court and apply for that order to be vacated. But people don’t do that.
Litigants prefer to go to another court and get a different order from another court with the same authority. An example is the PDP convention. Abuja High Court gave an order, the order was not vacated. Another set of people went to Port Harcourt to get another order concerning the same case. They ought to go back to that court and apply for the order to be vacated and if the court refuses to vacate the order, they will go to Appeal Court and from there they can proceed to the Supreme Court. The politicians are the ones making it look like there is a controversy or conflict of court orders. I think what should be done to prevent such incidents is to have coordinated activities of the high courts in such way that once a matter has been adjudicated upon or a ruling has been given on a particular issue, no such issue should be brought to another court in order to enforce a uniform form of administrating justice within courts of the same jurisdiction.
I learnt that recently Justice Auta, the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court has made a move towards arresting such ugly development. He met with high court judges to find a way to inhibit the ugly phenomenon so that once a matter has been resolved in one high court, no other high court will ever adjudicate on the same matter.

 What is your take on the campaign for the separation of office of Attorney General from Minister of Justice?
I think it is a move in the right direction so that the two ministries should be adequately prepared to execute their own defined assignment.
The office of Attorney General should be more of an independent body that will have all the time and resources and focus on proper dispensation of justice; handle issues in such a way that will reflect  efficiency.
The Minister of Justice on the other hand will focus on things of the ministry. This will prevent overlapping of duties. I think this is a move in the right direction if actually executed.

 Do you think the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) should be abolished?
There are so many arguments against that title. I think the title is like the glory of the legal profession and it is something lawyers aspire to be. It serves as a motivation for lawyers. But the only problem is that  the kind of attention given to SAN makes it look as if the other lawyers are not in practice.
 Besides, the process of giving people SAN has been adversely criticised because people who now attain it are sons and daughters of former justices, senior lawyers. Ordinary people find it difficult to attain that height.
They now recycle it amongst the children of eminent lawyers and not based on merit.   Also, some of them now see it as a means to gang up against young lawyers. Some positions cannot be given to you unless you are a senior advocate and this is not supposed to be so. These are some of the demerits of the title. But all the same, the title is like pride to every lawyer, it crowns the efforts of a lawyer. I’m not calling for it to be scrapped rather the procedures and the considerations should be reviewed so that it will still remain a reward to hard work.

What are your concerns over the spate of jail breaks in Nigeria in recent times?
It is very appalling. This is because with the equipment and armouries given to the prison officials, I cannot see why there should be a jail break. For me, I believe there is a collaboration between the prisoners and the warders. They must have compromised a lot of things for the jail break to occur. It is time to look into the activities of the prison officials. People in prison are 100% incapacitated, they don’t have weapons or even strength to fight the warders. This questions the integrity of the prison officials. The present administration should look into the matter.
There are some notorious criminals who should remain in prison till they are old and weak but if they should escape from there, they will cause more problems for the society.

 Any judicial solutions to this development?
Proper structures should be put in place to ensure such incidence does not occur again. Proper investigation should be carried out and if any of the officials are found involved in the jail break, they should be properly prosecuted and dealt with in accordance with the law. And any prisoner that tries to escape and has been re-arrested, should be given tougher terms because you cannot be in prison without committing an offence. And the prison ought to make you remorseful.
And employment of prison employees should be more strict and thorough. It should go beyond the basic qualifications.