Judiciary has been described all over the world as the last hope of a common man in seeking for justice. Judiciary is known to be a temple of Justice where aggrieved people of the world can go to when offended by work colleagues, neighbors, friends, and even family members to obtain authentic justice as a way of seeking a redress. Nevertheless, the reverse is the case completely here in Africa. Judiciary in Africa has instead become a commodity of the highest bidder because some corrupt Judges have taken over the sanctuary of Justice which is the court in Africa countries.
The obvious ineptitude of Judiciary in Africa is becoming a serious threat to the hard earned democracy existing presently in few countries in Africa and general peace and security in the continent. The body language of the Judges in Africa is seriously causing set back to the Judiciary of the continent. It is the body language of the Judges that is actually making the judiciary of the continent to loose deserved prestige. Before I begin to suggest way forward in reviving the ineptitude of judiciary in Africa, I want to go through the remote causes of the ineptitude as to create insight into the solution. The remote cause of the ineptitude are as follows:
1. Lack of Independence for Judiciary in Africa.
2. Executive arm of government's interference into judicial process in Africa.
3. Alarming rate of court contempt by executive arm of government in Africa.
4. Corrupt tendencies in Judges in Africa.
In discussing these remote causes of the ineptitude of Judiciary in Africa, we are going to explore them one after the other and proffer the solutions.
1st. LACK OF INDEPENDENCE FOR JUDICIARY:
One of the greatest clog in the wheel of development and progress in the judiciary of Africa is the lack of judicial independence in African countries. In most African countries especially Nigeria, the selection or appointment of Judges to High courts, Appellate courts and Supreme Court is in the exclusive discretion of the Heads of States of African countries. In most cases, the Judges will be sacrificing the tenets of the judiciary in order to lobby for a higher appointment should the Judge be able to please the Head of State with his obnoxious dispositions. For example, the present Acting Chief Judge of Nigerian Federal High Court, Hon Justice Abdul Kafarati in his bidding to please the President of Nigeria and attract the appointment of substantive Chief Judge of Nigerian Federal High after the retirement of Hon Justice Ibrahim Auta has made him to grant the questionable black market order in his obscure chamber to Attorney General of Nigeria to designate and gazette IPOB members as terrorist organization without considering the consequences of the obnoxious order to the image of Judiciary in Africa. An order which has put Nigeria judiciary in moral tight corner because even after the world rejected the designation of IPOB members as terrorist, Justice Abdul Kafarati is finding it difficult to overrule himself as he has already given the order and that was why he upheld the designation after the hearing of the case filed by IPOB leadership against government of Nigeria in the court.
*SOLUTIONS TO ABOVE LISTED REALITIES:
A. Let the Judicial Service Commission of African countries be the people to elect Judges to High Courts, Appellate courts and Supreme Courts through the instrumentality of record of achievement and antecedents of the Judges and not by appointments by the Head of States which always turns to become a blackmail on them to do the obnoxious bidding of the Head of State.
B. Let the annual budget for the National Judicial Council of African countries be independently made to avoid the executively interference inherent in having judiciary of African countries surviving at the mercy of the executive arm of government in Africa as regards to paying salaries and other allowances and security votes.
2nd. EXECUTIVE INTERFERENCE:
Another thing which causes the ugly trend of the ineptitude of judiciary in Africa is the executive interference in the judicial process. The executive interference is very noticeable in the bogus case of treasonable felony which Nigeria government instituted against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in Nigerian Federal High Court in Abuja Nigeria presided over by Justice Binta Nyako. The interference is mostly noticeable in different extra-judicial statements being made by the principal officers of Nigeria government including the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo when he was Acting President of Nigeria, Ministers of Internal affairs, Gen Abdulrahman Danbazzau (Rtd), Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Minister of Defense, Gen Mansur Dan Ali (Rtd), Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami SAN, and finally Mr President himself, President Muhammadu Buhari who made a terrifying statement on December 30,2015 during a presidential media chat, that he will never release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu even if court rules so. There are many other ways of which the executive arm of government in Africa interfere into the judicial process which time and space will not allow me to list here, and these renders the courts inept. It is time for judiciary in Africa to grow beyond the executive interference.
*SOLUTION TO THE REALITIES:
A. Judicial officers in the African countries must learn how to discharge and dismissed any case in the court of law which any extra-judicial statement capable of influencing the discretion of court is made upon so as to avoid making outcome of cases questionable before observers.
B. Judicial officers must understand that as umpire there shall be a level playing ground in the court of law regardless of how big or small is the plaintiff or the defendant in any case in the court.
3rd. ALARMING RATE OF COURT CONTEMPT IN AFRICA:
Another big monster bedevilling the progress of judicial system in Africa is the alarming rate of court contempt being committed by the executive arm of government in Africa. The executive arm of government has no respect for judiciary in Africa and that became the highest reason for the ineptitude of judiciary in the continent. When the executive arm of government set the ugly precedence of disobeying court, it will lack moral ground to enforce the execution of court rulings afterward as it is yet to purge herself of the court contempt hanging on her neck previously. Recently, a publication was released containing several court contempts committed by virtually all the government of 15 member states of West Africa under the umbrella name of Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS).
The chief among the defaulters in the court contempt among the executive arm of government in Africa is Nigeria. Since May 2015 when Major General Muhammadu Buhari became the President of Nigeria, the principal officers of the executive arm of government in Nigeria have made it as norm to disobey court verdicts and orders. It started when the fearless and only incorruptible Judge in Nigeria judiciary, Hon Justice Adeniyi Ademola gave a verdict on December 17, 2015 in Nigeria Federal High Court that the State Security Service (SSS) should release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his numerous followers held across prisons in Nigeria unconditionally after the court found Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB members innocent of the then accusation of terrorism by the SSS but Nigerian government under the lawless Gen Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) refused to obey the court verdict. Nigeria government continued in court contempt when Nigerian government refused to obey court verdict that ruled that Nigerian government should either arraign to court Col Sambo Dasuki (Rtd), Nigeria government former National Security Adviser and Sheikh Ibraheem El-ZakZaky, the leader of Islamic Movement in Nigeria for open trial or release them unconditionally because they have stayed in detention longer than necessary but Nigerian government once disobeyed court order. Nigeria government also disobeyed the court verdict given by Justice Ifeoma Ojukwu of Nigeria Federal High Court, Uyo which ruled that Mazi Bright Chimezie Ishinwa of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) should be released unconditionally with the compensation of #5,000,000 after the court find him innocent but Nigerian government of lawlessness still refused to obey the court ruling.
As Nigerian government has defiantly rubbished and incapacitated Nigerian Federal High Court with court contempt, it has extended the court contempt to ECOWAS sub-regional court. In an ECOWAS court ruling in September 2016, Hon Justice Friday Chijioke Nwoke gave a verdict that Nigerian government should immediately release Col Sambo Dasuki (Rtd), Nigeria former NSA and compensate him with 15 Million Naira for a prolonged detention but Nigerian government disobeyed the court verdict given by the international court. Recently, the ECOWAS court ruled once again that Nigerian government should compensate all the states of Biafra Land who are victims of 1967 to 70 genocidal war damages carried on Biafra people by Nigeria government and her then allies in the world with 88 Billion Naira. But till today, Nigeria government refused to obey the ECOWAS court verdict of paying the Biafra victims the 88 Billion Naira compensation. All these caricature on the judiciary in Africa is the cause of the ineptitude of judiciary in Africa.
*SOLUTION TO THE REALITIES:
A. Judicial officers under the umbrella name of Judicial Council in Africa should learn how to punish anybody, any government, any organization, or any association no matter how highly placed that disobey court orders and verdicts.
B. Judicial officers should learn how to shutdown judicial services in the continent whenever any court verdict is disobeyed by the principal officers of the executive arm of government in Africa. Because if anyone is not punished for committing court contempt, it will make another person to do it.
C. Both legislative assemblies of Nigeria government, ECOWAS parliament and African Union parliament must keep oversight on the executive arm of government in execution of court verdicts no matter who the verdict favours.
4th. CORRUPT TENDENCIES OF THE JUDGES:
One other powerful reason for the ineptitude of judiciary in Africa is the reality of the corrupt tendencies in some Judges in the continent. The body language of many Judges in Africa is encouraging impunity of the executive arm of government. The needless adjournment upon adjournments of court sitting when the verdicts are not favourable to the highest bidder is a matter of corrupt tendencies in African Judges. For example, it has taken Hon Justice Micha Wright of ECOWAS court up to 15 months (October, 2016 - January 2018) of his inability to deliver ruling on the simple case of gross human right violation instituted by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the Supreme leader of Indigenous People of Biafra against Nigerian government in ECOWAS in March 3, 2016. If it took both Hon Justice Friday Chijioke Nwoke and Hon Justice Micha Wright just 7 months (Match - October 2016) to hear the case and concluded it, why is it taking these months to deliver the ruling if not because Justice Micha Wright is doing the bidding of Nigerian government as the highest bidder in the case under reference? ECOWAS court has openly demonstrated that it is lilly-livered in delivering the ruling on the case between Nnamdi Kanu and Nigeria government bothering on the gross human right violation because it will not favour Nigeria government.
Another example is the judicial caricature being meted on Nigerian judiciary by Nigeria Judges due to the case of bogus and empty treasonable felony charges instituted in Nigerian Federal High Court against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his indomitable team of IPOB agitators by Nigeria government from the days of the corrupt Judges, Justice John Tsoho of Nigeria Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Aboki of Nigeria Court of Appeal and presently Justice Binta Nyako of Nigeria Federal High Court through questionable amendment of case files as if Nigeria government does not know exactly why it arrested Nnamdi Kanu in the first place, needless and obnoxious court adjournment upon adjournments to buy more time for Nigeria government who has obviously no case against these agitators, verdicts somersaults upon verdicts somersaults in the bid to figure out something to nail the innocent agitators to satisfy the ungodly yearning of Nigeria government and many more unprintable body languages of the Judges in Africa that breed impunity and lawlessness and at the same time encourage insecurity and threat democracy in Africa.
*SOLUTION TO THE REALITIES:
A. Judges in Africa must stay away from their political romance with the executive arm of government in Africa countries as that is what in most cases reduces the respect of judicial officers in the presence of the executive arm of government.
B. Both National Parliaments like Nigeria Senate, Sub-regional Parliaments like ECOWAS Parliament and African Union Parliament must not allow the Judiciary of the continent to be sacrificed at the Altar of political bubble inherent in international relations of member nations of both ECOWAS and AU.
C. Sub-reginal and Continental organisation and bodies like ECOWAS and African Union must create independent sources of fund for the funding the continental and sub-regional bodies and organizations to avoid the undue influence from the countries taking the lion share of the funding of the organizations as ECOWAS is presently suffering in the hands of Nigerian government because Nigeria is taking lion share in funding ECOWAS. If this not done fast in Africa, then the Judiciary in Africa will continue to be used to pacify lawless countries like Nigeria because of their funding of the regional bodies even when the countries are committing impunity against humanity.
EPILOGUE:
In concluding this article I want Judiciary in Africa to understand that if the people of Africa are constantly denied justice because of the apparent ineptitude inherent in your disposition, then you people in the Judiciary are pushing the aggrieved Africans to extra-judicial self help of taking laws into their hands due to overtime frustration in the Judiciary. If the people eventually resort to extra-judicial self help, then anarchy will set-in in the continent and the democracy in few Africa countries could be threatened. Judiciary in Africa must understand that any society void of rule of law and order, there is always insecurity in such society. It is time for judiciary in Africa to sit up and grow out of present ineptitude. I rest my case!
Written by Mazi Onyebuchi Eze
Family Writers Press' Chief Media Analyst.
Get me on twitter on: @KanuDisciple1 and on Email: nnamdikanudisciple@gmail.com