A United States based non-governmental organisation, Justice For All Nations (JFAN), has said that the final report of the probe panel set up by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate alleged unethical conduct against the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, President, Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Salami and six other appeal court justices should be transparent.
The group said it was worried over allegations in some national dailies in Nigeria that as against their oath, which demanded of them the sustenance of justice, some members of the Bench were making moves to suppress justice by whipping up sentiments on their perceived implication of the outcome of the NJC probe on the judiciary in the country.
In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP correspondent in New York by its Co-ordinator, Dr. Dada Popoola, JFAN said that no right thinking person would see the NJC probe in terms of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) versus Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), but from the point of view of the general interest of Nigeria, its people and the credibility of the country’s justice system.
It said a society where good lawyers and good arguments backed with legal authorities no longer won cases, but how well a litigant is able to ‘relate’ with judges was definitely in danger, adding that; “that is the major issue that must be corrected and if the NJC fails to correct it now, all of us stand the risk of being victims one day.
“Therefore, it is not only Nigerians that are interested in this matter and that must be known to those concerned with the probe. From our interaction with other organisations here in US, the matter is beyond the shore of Nigeria,” the group said.
“In the last four weeks, we have received reports (both formally and informally) from organisations like the National Democratic Institute (NDI), International Institution for Election Systems, International Republican Institute (IRI), National Association of Judicial Watchdogs (NAJW) among others, and all of them have been unanimous in telling us that they are waiting for the NJC panel report to know whether or not Nigeria is actually ready to show the way in democratic governance in Africa”, the group said.
While berating human rights and pro-democracy activists in the country for keeping silent on the matter, JFAN said; “It still baffles us why human rights activists like Mr. Femi Falana, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Prof. Itse Sagay, Olisa Agbakoba, Festus Keyamo and others are not saying anything on the NJC probe!
“Can it be concluded that they are silent because the probe affects their interests? This is because we still remember how these people shouted themselves hoax when the idea of promotion of Justice Salami to the Supreme Court was muted.
“So why are they silent now that Justice Salami and others are being probed?”
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