Strange Judgements: Court Becoming Infamous – Retired Supreme Court Justice Warns
- Flays judgments on Sen Lawan, Imo guber poll
Some controversial judgments of the Supreme Court, particularly the Imo State governorship and the recent decision on Senate President, Ahmed Lawan’s nomination bid to the 10th National Assembly have drawn the ire of one of the most respected retired Justices of the apex court, the Hon. Justice James Ogebe.
Justice Ogebe (rtd), who took a critical look at the Nigerian Court at the US-based ATSJC’s Courts and Society Webinar Series alongside other distinguished speakers on the topic; “The Courts’ Role in Nigeria’s Electoral Process” held recently, said that even serving Justices of the apex Court are unhappy about the unfortunate development.
Ogebe said that the Supreme Court being a final court, should be careful not to give any ruling without due and careful observation.
He particularly advised Judges and Lawyers to be very careful to ensure that the constitution is not breached by the politicians who are desperate to find loopholes with which to breach the constitution.
In the words of Justice Ogebe; “That is why in my paper, I try to suggest that pre-election matters of that nature should not go beyond the High Court, if at all.
“The High Court rejected the position of Lawan, the Court of Appeal also threw out his appeal, and it got to the Supreme Court, and then we had that strange ruling.
“Quite frankly, I’ve been a justice of the Supreme Court. I disagree entirely with that ruling, and I’ve had occasion to discuss it with some of the justices of the Supreme Court who don’t agree with that either.
“That is why I say that such matters should be dealt with very carefully. These people should not have been given any opportunity.
“In fact, they should be careful that even if it means applying their prerogative as the Highest Court to overrule some of the technicalities, like say, ‘oh, the originator of the suit did not file the originating summons, or this and that,’ these are technicalities.
“There was a case in Nigeria where a High Court judge was sentenced to imprisonment and fine for an offence, and eventually he appealed the matter. It went to the Supreme Court, and the Attorney General of the state was objecting on technical grounds, that the grounds were defective and all that.
“The Chief Justice said, look, whether the man came on his head or shoulders or not, the matter is before us and we’re going to decide it right now.”
“And they said, “Look, the High Court judge who is alleged not to have a gun license, and all that as the Attorney General, can’t you go and get the license for the judge? That is the kind of thing you bring here?
“There and then they discharged and acquitted the judge. So, the Supreme Court has the right, even when there is a defective process, they look at the substance of the case and say, look, we are going to do justice in this case. That would have solved the problem,” he stressed.
Ogebe further said that as judges, they should be careful in election matters, not to do anything that will make the court become infamous, adding however that the majority of judges are very careful, good, and not corrupt as being alleged.
The retired Justice of the Supreme Court noted that it is only the judiciary that can resolve issues between politicians be it at the legislative or executive arm of government since the two are all politicians.
According to Ogebe; “So, if the politicians have a disagreement with one another, there is no way they can resolve disputes within themselves because both sides are interested. That is why they created the judiciary, which is supposed to be impartial, to be fearless, and do the right thing.
“So, as I said earlier on, it is an onerous responsibility for the judges to decide on these election matters, but somebody has got to do it.
“That is why I enjoined that judges who are involved in election matters must be courageous, must be fearless, must be God-fearing, and do what is right, avoid bribery or partisanship and do what is right.
“I can’t see that ever changing because people are fighting each other over who to be president and then you leave it back to the politicians? What do you do? There must be somebody to decide the case, and… that onerous duty is upon the judiciary, in this constitution. “I cannot foresee any situation whereby you leave it to be a free for all fight. The judiciary is supposed to be an umpire in deciding such matters,” he said.
Asked by the moderator, Dr Ari Tobi on how he felt when he and Justice Niki Tobi were accused of taking bribes, Justice Ogebe said; “Well, I feel that was a professional hazard, there are so many people who don’t do anything about justice or anything, but they just open their mouth wide so when they said that, it was based on ignorance and that is important that the public be educated on how judges operate.
He further said; “For instance, the Yar’Adua case, it was a notorious fact that certain things went wrong. Yar’Adua himself as president did agree that there were some flaws in the process that brought him in but to prove it in court is a different matter.
“People did not produce enough evidence for us to overturn that election. We didn’t take bribes, nothing but based it purely on the law.
“You know that for the presidential, at the Court of Appeal level, there must be five justices of the Court of Appeal, and not a single one of them can overrule the other. Everybody has his own opinion. They can disagree, but the majority judgment will prevail.
“Like my own, when I did the Yar’Adua, five of us all agreed and there was no dissenting opinion at all. But when it went to the Supreme Court, there was some dissenting opinion. I think it was four to three, but the majority prevailed.
“So, there’s no single judge that has the power to overrule. Even if you are a Chief Justice, you can be sidelined if your colleagues don’t agree with you. Judges have independent minds and there is no way that you can force a judge to agree with you,” Ogebe said.
The panel on the US-based ATSJC’s Courts and Society Webinar Series comprised Keynote speaker: Honorable Justice James Ogebe, JSC, Rtd. While discussants include the Honorable Justice Adam Onum, Rtd. (Retired Chief Judge/Former Election Tribunal Chairman); Mallam Yusuf Ali, SAN (Nigerian Lawyer/Election Expert); Nella Andem-Ewa Rabana, SAN, Nigerian lawyer and former Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate); Mr. Kunle Lawal (Executive Director of Electoral College Nigeria/Politician/Patriot) with Dr. Ari Niki-Tobi, founder/CEO of ATSJC as moderator.
