The Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) has no power to investigate the chief justice of
Nigeria, Aloysius Kastina-Alu and the president of the Court of Appeal,
Ayo Isa Salami, over allegations of corruption leveled against them, a
leader of the association, Joe Kyari-Gadzama, has said. Mr.
Kyari-Gadzama, who contested for the office of the legal body last
year, said that the National Judicial Council (NJC) is the only organ
vested with the powers to investigate and discipline erring judges.The
president of the NBA, Joe Daudu, recently set a committee of about 10
senior advocates of Nigeria led by Onigbo Okpoko to investigate
allegations of corruption against Messrs Katsina-Alu and Salami. But
Mr. Kyari-Gadzama, who spoke with journalists in Abuja at the weekend,
faulted the panel, saying that it had no effect in law and could only
be advisory.
“By virtue of the
1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the National
Judicial Council was established as the body solely vested with powers,
functions and responsibilities to recommend the appointment, removal
and to exercise disciplinary control over all judicial Officers in the
federation,” he said. “I commend the decision of the NJC to appoint an
independent panel to probe the allegations. On the panel set up by the
NBA, my personal view is that the NBA is not a body saddled with the
responsibility of probing judges and pronouncing them guilty. But,
well, it is a decision of NEC which, of course, is bigger than my
humble self, but I believe that whatever its decision, it would be
advisory,”
He also said that
calls for the resignation of Messrs Kastina-Alu and Salami were
premature, especially as the NJChad already set up the five-member
panel led by Umaru Abdulahi, a former president of the Court of Appeal,
whose integrity, he said, was not in doubt.
“I believe that the
investigations should be allowed to go through the whole hog and at the
end of the day, if anyone of them is found guilty, he should face the
full weight of the law. Even the panelists in the Court of Appeal
panels in Ekiti, Osun and other states that were fingered who are
currently facing the panels should face the music if found culpable,”
he said.
Prove your allegation
The senior lawyer
said that the establishment of the Umaru Abdulahi panel by the NJC had
provided the nation with a golden opportunity to clean the rubbish
within the judiciary.
“It is a pity that
it has happened,” he said. “We in the legal profession are not happy
about it. But you have to remember that judges are also human beings
and are therefore fallible. My position on the issue is that despite
all the publicity, it is a golden opportunity for the nation’s
judiciary to clear its name and assert itself and show the world that
it can solve its problems.”
He also said that
government must set the bar for proving corrupt allegations against
judicial officials as a way of limiting the scope for mischief.
“I think it is time we adopt what is obtainable in Singapore, which
makes it mandatory for any person that raises allegations of corruption
to prove his case or go to jail,” he said. “This is unlike what is
obtainable in Nigeria, where judges and public servants are maligned
every day without a shred of evidence and nothing happens.”
