The futility and danger of DSS raid on judges  

According to the late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, JSC, “No one should go to the Bench to amass wealth, for money corrupts and pollutes not only the channels of justice but also the very stream itself. It is a calamity to have a corrupt judge… When justice is bought and sold, there is no more hope for society…”

That was at a time when robust intellectualism dwelt among Justices of our apex court. Their judgments had the force of law, became the law and made anyone associated with the practice of law proud. Yet, corruption existed in the judiciary otherwise Oputa would not have offered this profound opinion.

But Nigerians have recently become more conscious of not just the activities of corrupt judges but the negative outcome they bear on national development. President Muhammadu Buhari has seized every opportunity to ventilate his frustration with the judiciary over his administration’s avowed determination to wipe corruption out of the psyche of the Nigerian.

A fortnight ago when he delivered a speech to commemorate Nigeria’s independence, Buhari prayed: “… not for the first time, I am appealing to the judiciary to join the fight against corruption.” Little did the nation know that the President already had already run out of patience and had incubated an unprecedented upset in the nation’s judicial landscape.

Seven days after this request for collaboration, Buhari authorised an operation in which operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) marched on the homes of seven judicial officers, two of whom are Supreme Court Justices. The secret police would eventually address a press conference where it accused the arrested men of corruption and claimed that staggering sums were recovered during the dead-of-night attack on the homes of these judges.

Since Saturday when the news of the encroachment and arrest broke, arguments mostly hinged on emotions rather than reason have raged amongst Nigerians over whether the mode and time of arrests conformed to the rule of law or not.

Those who are sworn to swim or sink with Buhari hold that the rule of law could suffer as long as actions taken move the President’s desire to fight corruption forward. Those opposed to the President insist that the DSS action was irregular indicating that the nation was only one breath away from full blown dictatorship. Fortunately though, there is an accord that corruption in the judiciary is a cankerworm presently gnawing at the soul of the nation.

But that is about the only sense that you can make of the preponderance of interventions. Most of the arguments on this matter lack the intellectual rigour this matter deserves. The same way in which those who claim to fight corruption imagine that brutish actions would solve the challenge. How do we even expect the judiciary to be exempt of corruption in a country where everyone, including the politician, teacher, lawyer, journalist, doctor and even the clergy and traditional institutions are complicit in this culture of compromise?

How do we expect an immaculate judiciary in a country where the executive and legislative arms live large and consider themselves above questioning and accounting? Is it not the same Buahri who once alluded to not being able to afford his party’s presidential nomination form that can suddenly afford to send his children to expensive schools abroad and tell Nigerians so with gleeful arrogance? Didn’t the President promise to publicly declare his assets but began to amend his position when we got to the bridge? How does government hope to come to equity without clean hands?

A more rigorous investigation, which is the only way to institute sustainable victory over corruption, would show that not just the Bench but the Bar and judicial administration, which includes registrars and the likes are involved in practices that subject justice to petty transactions. They would be more contemplative in finding solutions and realise that not even taking out all the judges in Nigeria would put an end to this dishonourable state of affairs

One of those more temperate but ultimately impactful ways would have been to observe the constitutionally laid down procedures of allowing the National Judicial Council deal with erring judicial officers. The President and those who serve him, instead of serving the nation, should have known that there could be nothing more corrupt (not even the inducements allegedly received by the judges) than the circumvention of the legal provisions of attaining any purpose in a democracy. Such impurities are precursors to all forms of corruption.

Contrary to claims that the NJC refused to cooperate with the DSS, correspondence between the two bodies as published by THISDAY newspaper on Tuesday showed that the decision to adopt arbitrary self-help could have been due to nothing but the immodest self-worth of the DSS authorities who thought the NJC overreached by addressing the DSS Director General by his name while exchanging letters!

Questions should have been asked about how people even become judges in Nigeria. Unlike in those days when judicial appointments were founded on the intellect, character and competence of people, politicians now appoint lawyers who are loyal to their causes to the bench; hence, the foundation itself is faulty.

Had the President been more conscientious in this bid, he would realise that the working conditions of judges make them susceptible to venality. He would initiate a comprehensive reform in the mode of what his deputy, Prof Yemi Osibajo, inspired as the Attorney-General in Lagos State.  Do they even discuss these issues?

The President would have known that judicial officers are mostly overworked and underpaid in Nigeria and that a lot of them have become contractors, contrary to the ethics of their calling but in conformity with the realities of the Nigerian economy where every man is for himself.

President Buhari would have seen that judicial officers make enormous sacrifices for the country, work under strenuous conditions, handle cases in the multiple of what is normal, sit for hours, days on end, write manually and retire without being able to practise law again or even have so much of a voice to be heard. He would prepare for the nation to honour the honesty and selfless service of judges.

Unless the President desires to selfishly tower about all Nigerians in honesty and integrity, he would realise that societal problems do not go away by fiat but by the creation of a framework of continuous collaboration, cooperation and engagement with every important component of the societal structure.

These are lessons that one thought he would have learnt from the premature expiration of his War Against Indiscipline the moment he was overthrown in 1985. Consensus building lubricates democracy and causes societal problems to evaporate like boiling water.

Has the President ever considered meeting with heads of the other arms of government in a convivial atmosphere where they can rub minds and he could sell his vision to them and take their ideas? Or does he think he has all the answers?

Now, this is no endorsement of the evil that corrupt judges perpetrate when they pervert the cause of justice. There, surely, could be no greater evil than the commercialisation of the last hope of the common man, but the process of arresting the evil must itself be wholesome and sustainable.

Finally, there are two things that Buhari must realise; no country facing  economic challenges needs the kind of tension that the abuse of the rule of law currently generates in Nigeria. Giving security agencies the leeway to trample on the judiciary will encourage a new level of recklessness that this society may never be able to reverse.

And more importantly, the government of a country cannot afford to desecrate its judiciary. In dealing with the unacceptable level of corruption in Nigeria, government must work with the structure that we have in place or propose a change to the legislature.

Giving the impression that this structure is corrupt and useless is to sell the institution cheap and deny it the respect of Nigerians and foreigners as we have done the police. It will take generations to overcome such a disaster. The only way President Buhari can help Nigeria is to form a movement of believing stakeholders who will work with him to terminate this evil sustainably. That is how to leave an enduring legacy.