The Judiciary draws its strength from people’s confidence – Yusuf Ali

The strength of the judiciary is the confidence reposed in it by the people who approach it for resolution of disputes, a legal icon, Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN), has said.

He made the assertion in a paper delivered at the 2017/2018 Federal High Court legal year ceremony and annual Judges conference held at the Abuja headquarters of the Federal High Court last week.

The legal luminary said judicial officer is expected to be a recluse of a kind, sparingly seen outside of the courtrooms; they have a closed circle of friends and deliberately avoid the camera and limelight.

“Today, some judges in courtroom will address the journalists and tell them to record their names correctly so that Nigerians will know the Judge that decided a particular matter. If we may ask, ‘to achieve what goal’? The only answer is that they are sending signals to appropriate quarters. There are insinuations that sitting on a particular panel to determine a case in a particular manner is a ticket to elevation to the next level in the judicial ladder”, he said.

Quoting Justice Warren Burger, Ali said: “A sense of confidence in the Courts is essential to maintain the fabric of ordered liberty for a free people and three things could destroy that confidence and do incalculable damage to society; that people come to believe that inefficiency and delay will drain a just judgment of its value; that people who are for long been exploited in the smaller transactions of daily life come to believe that Courts cannot vindicate their legal rights from fraud and over-reaching; that people come to believe the law in the larger sense cannot fulfil its primary function to protect them and their houses, at their work and on the public streets.”

He identified some of the causes of corruption in the judiciary to include lack of integrity, worth, self-value and a minimum irreducible moral level below which one will not sink, pointing out that without integrity, any form of corruption is considered as normal

Others, he said also include ignorance of the law which enables unscrupulous lawyers take undue advantage of such judges to practice their mischief, personal, filial and pecuniary interest, the society and undue interest by government and its agencies.

He asserted that the Rules of Professional Conduct 2007 has express provisions on how counsel should conduct themselves so that there will not be an appearance of trying to compromise a judge.

He regretted that from the stories that make the rounds, there are some of the members of the legal profession who are playing less than holy roles in these matters.

“This unfortunately, paints the judges in bad light when they are not beneficiaries of such criminal behavior. This unholy practice has promoted most of the unsubstantiated rumor of corruption that make the rounds against innocent judges. What a shame! What a pity!” he said.

“It is a national malaise that, till now, we do not have a reliable data bank for fingerprints in the country. The security agencies resort to unorthodox methods in investigation because of the lack of modern knowledge of forensic investigation.

” As long as the security agencies are rudimentary in the way they carry out their investigation, it will have a negative carry over effect on the judiciary and affect the discharge of duties in the institution. The resort to media trial is also one of the negative side effects of improper investigation. Media trial as earlier stated can lead to corruption of the bench.

“It is our view that if the government assiduously implements the whistleblower policy and allow for the effective implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, the fight against corruption in the judiciary will be easy to handle.

“Rumor mongering has virtually become the past time of most Nigerians. Unverifiable and unsubstantiated rumors against members of the judiciary will have to stop. I dare say that majority of our judges are men and women of impeccable character. A situation where the society makes sweeping brush of shames of corruption on everyone is not only injurious but counterproductive. The security agencies may have to act and proceed against persons who make allegation against others, especially judges, which are not substantiated.

“The sections of our criminal law that punishes giving of false information must be activated to protect innocent judges against whom false allegation may be made. We must discourage those whose stock in trade is the maligning of good people. Litigants and general members of the public should stop pressurizing judges before whom they or their relatives have cases”.

He said the press holds a very central place in the fight against corruption, not only in the judiciary but the polity as a whole and in order to fulfill this mission, it has to at all times know that it is the conscience of the country and must see its duty and discharge same with patriotic zeal objectivity, balance and fairness.

He stated that members of the Bench must shun unbridled social life as it does not befit the office of a judge to be a socialite, adding that the National Judicial Council, Federal Judicial Service Commission and other State Judicial Service Commissions must be alive to their duties in wielding the big stick against all judicial officers who are found wanting in the discharge of their duties.