Judiciary And Crisis Of Confidence

Justice must not be done but must be seen to be done. Again, Justice is denied when right thinking  people walk away thinking the judge was corrupt.

The judiciary is said to be the last hope or resort of the common man but this belief may no longer hold sway in the light of daunting revelations occasioned by   the face off between the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Katsina-Alu and the President of Court of Appeal, Justice Salami.

Hitherto, many ordinary Nigerians fondly called the common never believed the courts could be corrupt to the extent of overturning the wishes of the Nigerian electorate. The belief was that the lower courts could still have pockets of corrupt men but the Supreme Court did not. The reason was that most judges appointed to the Supreme Court, the nation’s apex court were supposed to be worthy in learning and in character. They were in other words,  supposed to be righteous  men.

Besides, Supreme Court  judges were supposed to be light to the nation not having anything to do with the festering corruption that has become the bane of our nation –state.

The  decisions of the Supreme Court as sacrosanct  and immutable as they are, expected to take our democracy to enviable heights.

Alas, with the recrimination between the CJN and the PAC, there is no gainsaying the fact that the canker worm also   has eaten deep into the common man’s last resort.

The allegation by Salami that Katsina Alu was seeking vendetta as a result of his refusal to compromise the Sokoto governorship  election, which the CJN had asked him to compromise, appears too weighty for a mortal entrusted with the management of the nation’s judiciary.

Some may see the allegation as comical but far from it, it is an allegation, which can make or mar  the nation’s most reverred   arm of government. The  allegation has put paid the recent efforts of  judiciary at putting our democracy on the path of rectitude. It has brought diffidence on the little confidence gained  during the era of Kutigi, the  former CJN.

Unfortunately, the present CJN has less than seven  months to retire before  the show of shame materialised. In the same vein, until the rotten tooth is pulled out, the mouth must chew with caution.

Katsina Alu will be retiring from the bench in September, 2011 when he turns 70. but before  then, he would have overseen the general elections that are scheduled from April through election petitions. With the crisis of confidence rocking the nation’s Supreme. Court, can anything good be found  in Nazareth anymore.

Judging by the accolades, prefixes and honour  that are given to these men, the CJN and the PAC, one would ask if the both of them  really deserved  the respective  positions.

In deed, if the allegations made against Katsina  Alu are anything to go by, then ofcourse, his appointment to the nation’s  Supreme Court was misplaced.

On the other hand, if Justice Salami’s interest in crying fowl against the inducement of CJN was to  save the nation’s judiciary from the rot, then it was ill-timed. He ought to have cried fowl at the  time the CJN approached him. But if these allegations are intended to browbeat or   intimidate the CJN into rescinding his decision to move him to the Supreme Court then the nation’s interest plays a second fiddle.

But Salami and Katsina Alu are supposed to be wisemen properly so called. These wisemen in recent  times  have turned to the proverbial wisemen who died in the backyard of a foolish man.

Rather than tow the path of honour, they have  chosen the path of dishonour. Couldn’t  Salami have retired honourably if he was afraid of  going to the Supreme Court as a fresh judge. Again, how did the information leak to the press? It would have been treated within the National Judicial Council (NJC), and the present show of shame would have been averted.

This recrimination leaves a sore taste and grips the nation with a great fear of foreboding. On the other hard, what brand of justice will come from the judiciary, when the head is said  to be corrupt. Katsina –Alu as a wiseman so to speak, ought to have resigned to make room for justice to remain untainted.

As  our electoral petitions begin to fly around after April, there are fears that the right thinking members of the society may go away, thinking the judge was corrupt.

As corruption kicks us in the face, it is time we started reshaping the nation through appointment of judges worthy in learning  and character to the Supreme Court.

As Katsina-Alu remain the CJN, it is default for any petitioner to feel confident that he has a good case.

Whether NJC clears the CJN of all the allegations, confidence can hardly be restored.

It behoves, the NJC, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and all concerned to see how they can resolve the crisis.

However, the most important thing is for the two wisemen, Salami and Katsina Alu to resign in order to douse the crisis of confidence prevailing in the nation’s judiciary.

Chidi Enyie