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| Rotimi Amaechi |
Lawyers, who spoke with recently on the issue agree that the
allegations levelled against the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi,
should be thoroughly investigated. But they are sharply divided on calls
that both Amaechi and the judges should step down from their positions
pending the outcome of investigations and trials.
Onyekachi Ubani, legal practitioner: If allegations have been made
fingering Rotimi Amaechi or any other person, in the light and in the
spirit of the fight against corruption, it is important that the
allegation be painstakingly investigated. A lot of people had faulted
some of the contents of the letters written by some of the affected
Justices. For instance, one the judgments in question was said to have
been delivered in January but Amaechi was alleged to have seen one of
the justices asking him to ensure that the judgment is favourable to APC
gubernatorial candidate in February. So, these are issues. If those
things have been written and dates have been given it is something
worthy of investigation. The investigation is very important for a
government that is fighting corruption to either clear or indict those
who allegedly attempted to corrupt the judicial system.
Having said that, to save the judicial institution, those who have
actually been indicted and who are already being prepared to be
arraigned in court should step aside. Nobody is asking them to resign,
but they should step aside to clear their names. The institution of
judiciary must not be denigrated further or be inflicted with collateral
damage. It will not be proper to have a sitting judge who is under oath
of office to be arraigned in court for criminal trial while he is still
serving as a judge of the Federal Republic. We have seen some people
write letters to the CJN admitting that they met with some politicians.
If Nigeria is a country where public officers respect the institution
and not themselves, you don’t need anyone to advise you to step aside.
Amaechi’s name has been mentioned two or three times over this matter.
What he should also do is to step aside and have his name cleared before
he comes back. His stepping aside will give room for a thorough
investigation into the matter. We must build a system that is working;
let’s elevate our standard, which had been so lowered as a nation.
We must, however, be very careful in that we must not tolerate a
situation where people will just come up with allegations against a
judge or public official tomorrow and we will just say the person should
step aside because there has been a precedent. We must build a
mechanism where any person that brings any false allegation against a
judge would go in for it.
Chima Nnaji, legal practitioner: The truth of the matter is that it
is a very messy situation. It’s unfortunate that they are now trying the
matter in the media instead of bringing all the proofs of evidence to
the court by the DSS, the judges and so on. The principle of law is that
he who alleges must prove. The things that are being bandied in the
media are within the domain of allegations. Talk is cheap; anybody can
accuse any person of anything, anytime and follow it up in the media in
order to tarnish somebody’s image even when sometimes it may not be
true. So, I think that the person who is alleging that somebody has done
something criminal should be able to follow due process and prove his
case.
I also think that calls for both the judges and Amaechi to step aside
infringes on the fundamental right of presumption of innocence until
proven guilty. As an individual, somebody can allege that you asked him
for N10 million bribe. Maybe people will not know that you had a land
case with the person sometime in the past and that the person is not
happy you are working and making progress in your family. So, if he sees
making the allegation as an opportunity to finish with you, he can go
to the media and canvass that since you have allegedly committed crime,
you should be relieved of your job and if you are proven innocent you
return back to it. It is not going to be the same; the job may not even
be there for you again when the case ends. You may not even have the
face to come back again after you have been thoroughly embarrassed in
the media. So, I do not subscribe to the idea of anybody stepping aside
based on mere allegations. If somebody is convinced that what he is
saying is true, then let him institute an action in court so that the
people will be charged formally. It is on the basis of that formality
that the person can be asked to step aside while you clear yourself. But
if there is no primafacial evidence for anything, then it must be
thrown away and somebody must be charged for false information. So,
neither Amaechi nor the judges should be talking of stepping aside.
Frank Agbedo, legal practitioner and President, Global Centre for
Defence of Human Rights, Lagos: We need to approach issues concerning
judges with caution especially when such issues border on corruption.
Judges play the role of God on earth; that is why there is this general
presumption that judges are incorruptible. This presumption is
predicated on the belief that justice is rooted in confidence, and that
confidence is deemed to have been eroded when a judge is seen to be
corrupt. That is why anything that has to do with the integrity of a
judge must be treated with the highest caution. This is because if at
the end of the day the allegation turns out to be false, the judge would
have lost his integrity while the public would have lost confidence in
the ability of that judge to dispense justice. The collateral damage on
the institution in most cases would be irredeemable.
Crimes are statutorily provided for in our statute book. So, when you
level allegations against judges, you must be very sure of what you are
doing because if it turns out that the allegation is false, you that
made that allegation are not free from being prosecuted. In a case of
bribery, both the person who made the allegation and the person involved
are equally susceptible to trial before the court of law.
Therefore, I believe that a judge because of his training must be sure
of his evidence before coming out to make an allegation. So, there is
every need for the appropriate agencies to investigate it properly.
But what is happening now is outright media trial. The judges have not
been charged to court yet. It is when they are charged to court that the
prosecution will provide evidence to convince the court that the judges
actually committed the alleged offence. And if at the end of the trial
the defence feels that no case has been made against them, they will
enter a no case submission and the case will be struck out. So, the
judges just want to be heard. But ordinarily, it is premature; whatever
is happening now has no bearing when the matter goes to court. The court
will look at what is said or brought before it and not what is said in
the media. The judges are simply playing into the hands of politicians.
Politicians take their cases to the court of public opinion but matters
are not decided based on public opinion but based on hard facts that are
presented in the court of law.
There have been calls for the judges and even Amaechi to resign but my
concern is the motive. If the motive is right, they should step aside
but where the motive is just to shove them out of the system for some
selfish reasons, they should remain there and clear themselves from
those allegations.
Maxi Okwu, legal practitioner and politician: The whole thing is a
very sordid and ugly development. I have been a victim of judicial
corruption but I leave it at that. When I was very active as a
litigation lawyer, I never for once participated in bribing a judicial
officer. In fact, to me it was most unethical. But lately I have been
more in politics than in litigation. So, when I now became a litigant
and was trying to defend my mandate here and there, I discovered that
the system had changed. It was a cash and carry arrangement and I felt
sick.
A judge is not an ordinary Nigerian on the street; a judge has the power
of life and death over citizens and should be above suspicion. My
position now is that it is unethical for those judges who are now
suspects to sit over the civil rights and obligations of fellow
citizens. They should on their own step aside for the time being. If we
are a moral society, morality demands that you cannot preside over my
affair when you are a suspect; when you are an accused. It is very
wrong. So, they should spare us the torture and on their own opt out
until they are cleared.
“I am also surprised that the President has not called out Amaechi. A
judge of the Supreme Court has made an allegation and sworn to an
affidavit to back it up. It is a cogent matter that must be looked into.
One of the judges quoted him as saying ‘oga is angry’; he is drawing
the President into the matter. So, the President must take steps to
clear his name if he must preside over this anti-corruption war. Amaechi
has allegedly used the President’s name dishonourably as alleged by a
judge; the President has a duty in his best interest to find out whether
it is true or not. So, he must call out Amaechi.”
