I
have since read the reaction of the National Judicial Council, on the arrest of
judges. I expected nothing less, given the pedigree of this particular
administration, either when it was in the opposition, or during its campaign to
secure power, or now that it is the ruling party. It has been a case of propaganda,
propaganda and propaganda.
It
would now seem that the leadership may truly mean well, but surely APC, as a
political party, has no history of reliable stories.
Given
the revelations that have emerged from the NJC, my humble cry is to the
Nigerian Bar Association, National Association of Judicial Workers and indeed
all judicial Officers across Nigeria, to close down the courts.
In
the light of the emerging facts, this regime does not need the courts at all.
What it desires is a situation whereby suspects are sent to jail without trial
and once when government has raised any allegation, regardless of the actual
and true facts, the victim stands condemned.
So
judge's and courts are not needed at all. The President said so. The EFCC
chairman said so, that the judiciary has been a headache.
What
the sting operation sought to and has indeed achieved is to place judicial
officers under some terror, harassment, fear and indeed intimidation. Citizens
will not be entitled to fair trial any longer and truly innocent people will
now be sent to jail, since that is the preference of the government and that
will be the only way judges can be free from harassment.
And
we should be able to predict the outcome of the Edo State Election Petitions
Tribunal already.
The
case of Hon Justice Pindiga is even worse. This man shouted himself hoarse that
an APC bigwig in Port Harcourt had been pressurizing him to influence the
outcome of the Rivers State Election Tribunal in Favour of the ruling party.
This was never investigated but rather he was removed from that Tribunal
unceremoniously, only for the DSS to turn around to accuse him of corruption,
unknown to many that these spurious allegations have been thoroughly
investigated and cleared.
Yes,
corrupt judges should go to jail, after their due trial and conviction, not
through sting operations. I have myself with some clients been victim of
corruption judgments and I'm still bleeding from some of them even as I write.
So it's painful and criminal, for any judge to alter his conscience to the
highest bidder and turn justice upside down.
I'm
told that Hon Justice Okoro was born in 1958, so that if he were to retire at
age 70, he could have emerged as the cjn but for this sting operation.
The
DSS director was part of the the Buhari Campaign Organization, so indirectly,
he is a politician. Such a person should not be allowed to vent his spleen on
judges in the name of corruption, but if the facts are available to the DSS to
nail corrupt judges, by all means the DSS should work with the Efcc and the
Police to deal with such.
And
in the midst of all these, the recession is hitting harder, with no concrete
plans by the government to address the suffering and poverty that our people
are all going through.
May
God help and save Nigeria.
Ebun-Olu
Adegboruwa
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