Can the judiciary save itself from the political elites?

As the 9th national assembly wound down its activities about a month ago, one of the outgoing senators, Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa, representing Bauchi north senatorial district, stood up to speak during the valedictory session. In his speech, he made a revelation of what an average person in Nigeria has always suspected happens in the ecosystem of justice administration in the country, especially, when it comes to politicians procuring judgments, and injunctions, most of which are often frivolous.

The “distinguished” senator confessed to using his status as the husband of the one-time president of the Court of Appeal, Honourable Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, to influence judicial proceedings in favour of some of his colleagues at the national assembly. The retired diplomat-turned-senator said: “I look at faces in this chamber who had come to me and sought for my help when my wife was the president of the court of appeal, and I am…”

But the senate president at the time, Ahmed Lawan, whose magical return to the (10th) national assembly, after contesting for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on June 8, 2022, in what seems a blatant contravention of section 115 (D) of the 2022 electoral act, which stipulates that no person shall sign, obtain more than one form as a candidate for different elections,” (in the same election cycle), tried to stop Senator Bulkachuwa, but without success.

Senator Lawan interjected, saying: “This kind of insinuation would mean that there was a favour and there was the rest of it. Distinguished, I don’t think this is a good idea going this direction”. The Bauchi senator would have none of that, as he continued to spill the bean. The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker continued saying: “Particularly, my wife, whose freedom and independence I encroached upon while she was in office. And she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues”.

Meanwhile, at the same session, Senator Rochas Okorocha also played a “direct free-kick” at the (outgoing) president of the senate (Lawan), describing him as “a very smart politician”. This is an apparent reference to how the latter made it back to the senate after contesting and losing (coming third in) the APC presidential primary election. The former governor of Imo state offered to submit himself to the tutelage of Lawan whose return to the senate defies any logic, when juxtaposed with the provision of the electoral law, quoted above. It was, therefore, to deduce the reason behind the swiftness of Lawan in admonishing Bulkachuwa to “off his mic”.

Recall that the “off-your-mic” episode too was much like this – trying to cover up the conspiracy of the ruling elites against the overall good of Nigeria. It was sometime in July 2020 when the House of Representatives decided to launch a probe into the finances of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Nigerians, and indeed, the rest of the global audience were treated to the best of tragicomedy that public service in the land has become. The lower chamber of the national legislative arm decided to set up an ad-hoc committee to probe the interim management board of the commission over alleged mismanagement of ₦40 billion.

During the hearing by the house committee on Niger Delta, the then minister for Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio alleged that some federal lawmakers were also part of the recipients of most of the contracts being awarded by the NDDC. Then, a female member of the house committee snapped at Akpabio over the can of worms that the former Akwa-Ibom state governor was about to open. The now-president of the senate, Akpabio, insisted on explaining what the female lawmaker “might not know”. Perhaps he wanted to name those “contractor lawmakers”, who knows? As Akpabio made to continue his “explanation”, the chairman of the committee could be heard desperately screaming: “Honourable Minister, please off your mic. It’s okay…..”. So, Bulkachuwa’s valedictory verbal discharge reminisces me of that “off your mic” soap opera.

But now, beyond the discomfort that Bulkachuwa’s revelation would cause the beneficiaries of his “unpatriotic kindness” towards his colleagues lies the integrity of the Nigerian judicial system and the entire superstructure of the country’s administration of justice. This is a very worrisome signal; especially now that the 2023 presidential and other election petition tribunals are ongoing. The importance of the independence of the judiciary in deepening the roots of democracy, like ours, can never be overemphasised.

Some critical stakeholders, and observers of the 2023 presidential election, who are of the belief that the process was rigged in favour of the ruling party and its candidates, especially President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are trusting in the judiciary for a redress. Meanwhile, those who hold contrary opinions are also investing their hope in the same institution to affirm their position on the election. And we all know that the acceptability or otherwise of the outcome of the litigation depends on how much faith the different parties to the case have in the integrity and independence of the judiciary. That is why, in my opinion, Bulkachuwa has chosen the most inauspicious of times and occasions to make this Freudian slip.

Whichever way the judgment goes, the loser would always have the ground to discredit it on account of the violence done to the integrity of the nation’s judicial institution by the accidental discharge that is better referred to as “Bulkachuwagate”.

Bulkachuwa would later come out to tell the whole world that he was either misunderstood or misquoted, saying he never influenced his wife’s decisions as the president of the appeal court. Meanwhile, he didn’t sound confused when he spoke and was being cautioned by the presiding officer, Lawan. This latter position of his has already been undermined by his vehemence in wanting to continue during the valedictory session while the senate president was trying to salvage the situation with the advice, quoted above.

It beats my imagination how he ended up meaning what he never said or saying what he never meant. He blamed Senator Lawan for not allowing him to finish his statement. Whatever that means, Nigerians have picked the few words he was privileged to drop.

Following that “accidental discharge”, prominent Nigerians, including lawyers, have been calling on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate the matter. But the silence, so far, from the NJC has been so deafening that one should be pardoned for thinking that the body has been disbanded. But I do know that the silence is just for the meantime. It would be broken sooner rather than later because we are talking about an allegation that touches on the very core of the divine (constitutional) mandate, integrity, and value of the judiciary as an institution.

Sensing the imminent wake-up of the seemingly slumbering NJC, Bulkachuwa had approached the court, the same institution whose integrity he has sent his tongue on an ignoble errand of maligning, to provide him with an armour of protection against being investigated by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). He has, reportedly, filed a suit at the federal high court in Abuja seeking to stop the anti-graft agency from investigating, and prosecuting him, for allegedly compromising the independence and integrity of the judiciary.

This is the fallout from his confession to having encroached upon the freedom and independence of his wife while she was in office as the president of the court of appeal.

We know why it is always very easy for politicians to procure injunctions to restrain actions by fellow politicians or restrain law enforcement agencies from arresting and prosecuting them. Many Nigerians believe those injunctions do not come cheap.

Can they (the judiciary) do it? The ball, as the saying goes, is in the court of the judiciary. It is now their lot to grant themselves the deserved redress or get compromised, as Bulkachuwa’s (accidental) verbal discharge suggests. It remains to be seen if the judiciary allows itself to be used against itself.

Furthermore, it is an opportunity for the in-built mechanism for self-correction that the NJC is to the institution of judiciary in Nigeria to kick in and save it from the hands of the ruling class, who have been conspiratorially raping the conscience of the nation and that of the temple of justice. As the judiciary battles to save itself from the grip of the political elites, Nigerians and the whole world wait with bated breath to see how it will extricate itself from this “Bulkachuwagate”. May the judiciary not be afflicted with Stockholm Syndrome such that Bulkachuwa’s prayer is granted. But this is Nigeria — anything can happen with little or no consequence.

It would amount to a sheer lack of empathy on my part to finish this piece without sparing a thought for the retired president of the court of appeal, Justice Bulkachuwa, whose integrity, and independence have become subjects of interrogation, no thanks to the verbal recklessness of her senator husband who suggested that he traded her wife’s professional integrity for friendship and loyalty among his lawmaker friends.

Whenever the NJC decides to commence its probe into the matter, I do not see how the poor woman would not be put in a position of awkwardness unless her husband is able to prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that we all misunderstood him or misconstrued what he said. I doubt if millions of intelligent people who either watched him speak live or watched the video clip would be wrong as far as what they heard him say is concerned. May God help her.

Abubakar writes from Ilorin, Kwara state. He can be reached via 08051388285 or [email protected]