An Open Letter To President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, Chief Justice Of Nigeria, Hon. Justice OLUKAYODE ARIWOOLA, GCON, The National Judiciary Council (NJC) And The International Community, Concerning The Imposition Of Pastor Umo Bassey Eno As Governor On The People Of Akwa Ibom State, Despite Being A Person Duly Convicted By Judgment Of A Court OF Competent Jurisdiction, Among Various Public Ridicule And Odium Of The Nigerian Judiciary
The endemic decay of Nigeria’s judiciary, which, has of recent, constituted itself the odium of a nation before the comity of nations, deserves considerable attention of Nigeria’s authorities, scholars, international community, and above all, the citizenry.
The primary function of the judiciary was to sustain the inner morality of the law by acting in three capacities, namely:
(1) Being the dispenser of justice
(2) Being the protector of the rights of the people; and
(3) Being the guardian and protector of the Constitution of the state.
These functions are what sustain a stable and lawful society. To safeguard the possibilities implicit in this path of responsibility, a judicial officer is expected to be above sentiments and greed, be a man of exceptional intelligence and a referential point of lego-political and socio-moral philosophy, be less-materialistic and independent-minded with unassailable integrity.
A jurist ought to know that his appointment as a judge is a distinctive opportunity, which entails not only a moral oath of responsibility, but also of spiritual obligation, to never disgrace the temple of justice. Esoterically speaking, the temple of justice ought not to belong to a mortal man. It pertains to a Divine-celestial power that universal creation is anchored. Alas, man being given such an honorable duty, to hear and apportion justice to a fellow man, ought not to throw such a hallowed calling to the dustbin of profanity.
Judges are the voices of sentencing but their freedom of choice is limited by the rule of law, good conscience, principles of integrity and morality, justice delivery structure and statutes existing in a particular state, and above all, public interest.
Quite appalling, today’s role of the Nigerian judiciary – comprising the Judex and the Bar, has been different. It has progressed to an international public ridicule and odium, and quite perilous. The law in Nigeria has lost a constructional role as a guidance and protector of a stable and democratic system – promoting a systemic mass toward desecration of temple of justice and state’s destruction.
Beyond debates, this judo-moral crisis demands a critical-mass response – a new approach to stemming the cancerous system – of corruption and intellectual poverty among judicial officers and court administrative staffers, else, Nigeria which is already a failed state, will sooner than anticipated, enter the genre of collapsed states.
The critical-mass response is not only timely but significant – otherwise soon and very soon, a situation faced by officers and men of Nigerian Police Force in October 2020 under the toga of End-SARS protest might befall Nigerian judges and lawyers. Of course, I was rightly informed of a recent situation where a retired judicial officer, who was still using judicial Plate number in his car, was almost maimed at a petrol-filling station, until he knelt and shouted “I have retired oo! I am not one of them!”
Throughout history of the classical, medieval and contemporary eras, every nation or society which the citizenry had lost hope in the system of law and court, always become a collapsed state. To mention but a few, are the emergence of Adolf Hitler Nazis Germany, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and 1992-Yugoslavia.
Is never any moment premature, nor too harsh a demand, for renaissance reforms of three most troubling institutions in today’s Nigeria – the judiciary, the Police Force, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Among them, the EFCC and the judiciary have now been seen as institutions that constantly intrude on the inner-morality of the law, the public interest, and the fundamental rights of the citizenry. Their today’s practices, I am persuaded, demand sensitive curbing. Anything less, goes to a resource restatement that anarchy remains a choice of the citizenry. When every man and woman begin to see court proceedings as a joke, a day might come when judges and lawyers, wherever they are found, would be stoned to death, or judicial proceedings may be collectively treated highly disparagingly.
The result of the collective citizenry losing hope in the judicial system and seeing the courts as a filthy forum where the difference between armed robbers and judges is that while armed robbers use AK47 to rob, some judges use wig and gown to rob, might lead to anarchism. That is how collapsed states do evolved.
THE INCIDENTAL ISSUE
Following the verifiable happenstances surrounding litigation for the Office of Governor of Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria, a plethora of reports have been made about the machinating suck on Akwa Ibom state treasury by officers and administrative staffers of Nigerian judiciary. Of course, the state treasury is conveyed as the factor that influenced the apparent corruption and irresponsible acts of court officials allegedly involved. As a legal scholar and a citizen of Nigeria whose ancestry is traceable to the very community in reference, I do believe it is a solemn duty to make this admonition and recommendation to the government, public authorities, international community, to help the people of Nigeria. At this juncture, it is pertinent to set forth the material particulars of the matter as hereunder appearing seriatim:
A. CONVICTION OF PASTOR UMO BASSEY ENO BY CHIEF MAGISTRATE COURT, ABUJA AND THE POST-CONVICTION SKULDUGGERY
• The Fraudulent Features of a Purported Order of Magistrate Court dated 11th January 2023 Paraded by Pastor Umo Bassey Eno
1. Stirred by several news publications as found in the Sahara Reporters of June 8 and July 20, 2023, Thisday Newspaper of July 21, 2023 and October 19, 2023, Applebite.com of June 3, 2023, OPR News and Naijagg.com of June 8, 2023 among several online reports, I have had the privilege to thoroughly review in entirety, the proceedings records of the case in Charge No: CR/94/2022 between one Mr. Edet Godwin Etim vs. Pastor Umo Bassey Eno. What characterize the involvement of court officials in the entire fraud is appalling.
2. The current Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, who, as evidenced in the judgment of the Magistrate Court delivered December 20, 2022, committed an offence – with elements cut across three states’ territorial jurisdictions. He was charged upon receipt of Criminal Complaint by the FCT judiciary. One Edet Godwin Etim – a downtrodden, pained for the loss of his daughter to the cold hands of death as a result of deliberate ill-treatment by Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, including criminal conversion of fund belonging to the said Mr. Edet Godwin Etim and other persons, had hoped in getting justice through either the God of Creation or the Nigerian justice system. Perhaps, he wasn’t too sure when the former will happen; hence he took the necessary step of complaint under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
3. The proceedings commenced about May, 2022 and in December 20, 2022, judgment was delivered by Abuja Chief Magistrate Court, Coram: His Worship, Emmanuel Iyanna. The Court convicted Pastor Umo Bassey Eno of the Offence of Cheating and Dishonestly Inducing Delivery of Property, contrary to and punishable under Section 325 of the Penal Code (CAP.89) Laws of Nigeria 2004.
4. Having evaded the court on the day of Judgment, the judgment attached a Bench Warrant for his arrest. On December 23, 2022, the arrest warrant was issued for apprehension of the convict – Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, for the appropriate sentencing or correctional centre.
5. Record indicates that on January 9, 2023, the convict – Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, emerged from his hideout with his legal team, which one Uwemedimo Nwoko, SAN and Samuel Ikpo, Esq among others are listed. They filed a Motion on Notice dated 9th of January, 2023, praying the court to set aside “Issuance of Warrant of Arrest, simpliciter.”
6. On January 10, 2023, the Magistrate Court enrolled an Order of Substituted Service. As evidence in the Court Order, the Magistrate Court slated January 13, 2023 for hearing of the Motion on Notice filed by Pastor Umo Eno to set aside Issuance of Warrant of Arrest, simpliciter.
7. Record clearly demonstrates that the nominal complainant’ lawyers, having found that the Motion on Notice filed by the convict was incompetent, on January 11, 2023, they filed application to obtain certified true copies of the said Pastor Umo Eno’s motion and all processes in the case file.
8. On January 11, 2023, the nominal complainant lawyers and complainant were in the court premises and waited from 9 am until close of work, as the Court Registrar, one Mrs. Sarah James, told them that the documents will only be certified for them upon approval by the Magistrate who was not on seat on the said 11th day of January 2023, hence, their decision to wait in case the Magistrate arrives but the magistrate never attended the Court that very day.
9. Record shows evidence to the fact that the Magistrate court did not sit on January 11, 2023. The said evidence has not been controverted by any quarters.
10. It was until January 12, 2023 that the nominal complainant lawyers were able to access the certified true copies of documents applied for, to enable them file a counter affidavit and objections against the Pastor Umo Eno’s motion filed to set aside Issuance of Warrant of Arrest, which hearing was slated to hold on January 13, 2023 in line with the said enrolled Order of the Magistrate Court dated 10th January 2023.
11. The nominal complainant lawyers and the complainant appeared in court on January 13, 2023, a date slated for hearing predicated on the said Order of Court enrolled January 10, 2023. They were surprised to hear that the proceedings are terminated and there was no more hearing. No tangible answer was given why the proceedings were terminated.
12. Based on online reports, the Registrar of the Court, Mrs. Sarah James, was alleged to be actively involved in the collusion, and that the Chief Judge of FCT, Hon. Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, instigated that the case file against transferring Pastor Umo Eno to prison be abruptly terminated. It was also alleged that the fraudulent action was bankrolled from Akwa Ibom State treasury under the aegis of the former governor. Media reports had also reported that the said Chief Judge of FCT, as of recent, was accused by his learned colleagues of the Court to have diverted billions of Naira meant for judges entitlements and made them vulnerable to bribe traffickers. One wonders if the NJC members have not read these reports or received any complaint!
13. But if for pecuniary interest, folks or officials want to help a convict to pave his way through, must they do so brazenly and unintelligibly? Why not wait until January 13, 2023 – the day the matter was slated for hearing, and of course, advise the convict’s lawyers to file proper processes to aid a seamless actuation of your injustice so as to earn your proceeds of crime in peace! In the instant case, no iota of wisdom was deployed by Pastor Umo Eno and his accomplices.
14. It can only mean that what was done, was for the convict to just type and print out a document purportedly to set aside the judgment that convicted him, then dated it 11th January, 2023, perhaps through the bargain man, endorsed it in the name of the Magistrate, Emmanuel Iyanna or gave to him anywhere outside the Court, so as to take it to Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Tribunal to excuse himself of the status of disqualification created by sections 134(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and 182 (1) of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.
15. The particulars of fraud found in these acts are enormous. The scenario disgraces the Nigerian judicial system, as it raises the following questions:
a. Based on the order of substituted service enrolled and served on the nominal complainant’s lawyers on January 10, 2023, how did Pastor Umo Bassey Eno obtain the purported order of January 11, 2023 less than 24 hours from time of enrollment and service of the order of substituted service which slated January 13, 2023 for hearing of Umo Eno’s motion to set aside warrant of arrest?
b. Where was the proceeding for the order conducted when there is no evidence that the Magistrate Court sat on Tuesday January 11, 2023 and evidence that the Court did not sit as tendered before the election tribunal by the APC, according to record, was never controverted?
c. How was the purported order of 11th January 2023 produced before January 13, 2023 – the date slated for hearing of the matter as evidenced in the order of the same court delivered January 10, 2023 which was never set aside or varied?
d. What happened on January 13, 2023? Why was the proceeding slated to be held that day abruptly terminated?
e. Can a Magistrate court, which I doubt has the jurisdiction or power to set aside its own criminal proceedings judgment, issue an order setting aside its judgment, ex parte and outside the court room?
f. On the face of the Pastor Umo Bassey Eno (the convict)’s Motion on Notice filed on January 9, 2023 to set aside Issuance of Warrant of Arrest, apparently, no relief was sought to set aside judgment of December 20, 2022 that convicted him. Can a court grant a relief not sought for by an applicant?
16. From the above deductions, one will agree that such a purported order is one categorized as an order made by fraud, by collusion or without jurisdiction under Section 64 of the Evidence Act 2011 (as amended) and does not meet up the requirements of Section 168 (1) of the said Act which requires that for a judicial act to ascend the throne of presumption of regularity it must have been done in a manner substantially regular.
17. If you look at the circumstances, as chronicled above, it leaves no one in doubt that the online reports about a fraudulently procured order by Pastor Umo Eno using a fortune from Akwa Ibom State treasury under the aegis of the former governor, was not far-out.
18. More so, there is an allegation that the said Registrar of the Magistrate Court, Mrs. Sarah James, who is allegedly one of the key collusion persons perfecting the fraud, was compensated with a Range Rover Utility Sport (SUV) and thousands of dollars. The allegation that she is currently driving the Range Rover Sport to work lately should be investigated. If the Registrar, whose salary cannot be more than N300,000 could quickly become rich with Range Rover (SUV) within weeks when Pastor Umo Eno began to parade the purported order of January 11, 2023, the source of income by which the Range Rover was purchased should be investigated. One also wonders how much dollars could have gone into the hands of other privies much that they got blinded by the money and forgot two important steps, namely (1) They forgot to wait until January 13. 2023 to find a way to seamlessly help the convict; (2) They forgot to mention in the fraudulently procured order of January 11, 2023 that the certificate of the judgment of December 20, 2022 has been set aside.
19. Legally speaking, I am in doubt if in criminal proceedings a purported order that set aside a criminal conviction judgment without setting aside certificate of judgment is not a nullity, since certificate of judgment is the absolute poof of conviction. I do know that Nigerian Supreme Court alluded to this view when I read the case of IBORI v. AGBI (2005) Reported in Law Pavilions No. 1402 (SC) 67 wherein it was held that certificate of judgment is the proof of conviction. Other than Nigerian law, laws of several other jurisdictions have maintained this view.
20. Another shameless aspect of the particulars of fraud found is that the purported order of January 11, 2023 credited to Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, is that two different types did fly around social media pages in a hurry. Both are clearly distinct from one another. The one tendered before the Election Petition Tribunal as an Exhibit does not maintain same features with the one they dumped in the social media. But both are in the public space. Apparently, after parading the one full of errors, they went back to make up a better-doctored one to use as defense in the election petition.
• The FCT High Court Aspect
21. It is equally pertinent to visit the appeal filed by Mr. Godwin Etim against the abrupt termination of hearing/ proceedings of January 13, 2023 by the FCT Magistrate, without giving any tangible reason for doing so. His complaint is that the Magistrate should at least give reasons why Pastor Umo Eno is not being sent to prison after conviction. Record shows that the business of the Court on January 13, 2023 was to determine Eno’s incompetent motion to set aside Issuance of Warrant of Arrest which was filed to delay enforcement of his movement to prison wherein he escaped on December 20, 2022 a day he was convicted. As record shows, the case was assigned to a panel headed by Hon. Justice A. S. Adepoju of FCT High Court, a well-talked about incorruptible judge. The panel slated May 15, 2023 for hearing on the matter. A strong allegation reported that money influence scheme could not reach the incorruptible judge; the Chief Judge of FCT, Hon. Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, had to dismantle the panel and brought in one of his stooges in the center of the compromised justice administration, Hon. Justice S. B. Belgore, who was earlier scheduled for the month of June 2023 appeal’s panel. Hon. Justice S. B. Belgore having no answers in law to circumvent Mr. Etim’s grievances asking the FCT High Court to question the inexplicable termination of proceedings and enforce arrest and transfer of Pastor Umo Eno to prison, has played a facetious intrigue which story virtually cracks rips. Even after granting an Order for accelerated proceedings, he did his best to delay and restrict proceedings so that Pastor Umo Eno cannot be transferred to prison until after May 29, 2023 wherein Pastor Eno filed a motion that he is now been protected by immunity clause of section 308 of the Constitution of Nigeria. Mr. Edet Etim’s legal team took to the attention the Court, a Supreme Court authority that Pastor Eno’s peculiar case was not covered by Section 308 of the Constitution. This aspect is an intriguing story for another day.
• The Indignities of Governorship Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal
22. I have had the privilege to read shrewdly the records and judgments of the Tribunal and Court of Appeal. In light of the revelations of the criminal conviction of Pastor Umo Eno by FCT Magistrate Court, the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), the Young Progressives Party (APC) and the All Progressives Party (APC) filed petitions seeking invalidation of certificate of return issued to the convict, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno on grounds that by virtue of section 182(1) of the Constitution, he was not qualified to contest the election, being a person duly convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction or offence having been imposed on him.
23. The APC in particular, has correctly presented to the tribunal and the Court of Appeal that the purported order of 11th January, 2023 paraded by Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, is a fraudulently procured order – a null document, since, in the language of Section 64 of the Evidence Act, 2011, which the APC invoked, it was surreptitiously and fraudulently procured – by fraud, by collusion or without jurisdiction, and therefore, was never in existence in the eyes of the law.
24. It is incontestable that a fraudulently procured document cannot fall within the contemplation of Section 168(1) of the Evidence Act, 2011, which requires that for a judicial act to be accorded presumption of regularity it must be one done in a manner substantially regular. This is the APC case against the PDP in one hand.
25. I have perused over and over again in consideration of the intendment of the legislature. Sections 64 and 168(1) of the Evidence Act, 2011. Section 168 (1) does not include a document printed outside the court, given to court officials either in their home or anywhere, to make it up, in exchange for money. Such cannot be an order or product of a conducted judicial proceeding, so properly called.
26. Certain questions raised above repeatedly seek clarity and should have agitated the minds of Tribunal and Court of Appeal judges.
27. A Court of law and justice shouldn’t be a forum where fraud is legalized to give advantage to a criminal convict for pecuniary or other interests.
28. With regards to the issue of presentation of forged certificate by Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, the APC went as far as getting a constitutionally established body in charge of investigation – i.e., the Nigerian Police Force to investigate the authenticity or otherwise of the certificate presented by Mr. Umo Bassey Eno to INEC. The Nigerian Police assigned that function to INTERPOL to carry out the investigation and tender its report. The APC sought and obtained an order of the tribunal to compel WAEC to testify and tender the document. Perceiving complicity, APC obtained an order of the tribunal to compel INTERPOL to tender report of its findings, which was duly obtained from WAEC via an Order of the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1247/2023 between Federal Inspector General of Police v. WAEC & ORS. In compliance with the Order of the tribunal, INTERPOL tendered the findings report from WAEC which clearly reveals that the June – 1981 WAEC-GCE Certificate presented by Pastor Umo Bassey Eno does not exist in WAEC database and register, and that only a similar name (not exact name) was found in 1982 master list.
29. Astonishingly, what the trial tribunal and the Court of Appeal have done is to ensure they rely heavily on another case – to wit, Akan Ekpe Okon v. PDP to hold that is judgment in rem, therefore any inquiries into the genuineness and authenticity of the certificate is foreclosed against the whole world. I have read in a fact-finding and scholarly eyes, the judgments and the election petitions before the Courts, I completely find the decisions of the tribunal and Court of Appeal evasive, and quite an affront to the sensibilities of Nigerian citizens and the inner morality of the law, and even common sense finds it so on the following grounds:
a. The judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Akan Ekpe Okon v. PDP reported in Nigerian Weekly Law Report (OKON v. PDP (2023) 10 NWLR PT. 1893 AC 501) which I have read, and also read the NNPP, YPP and APC petitions, the APC in particular, practically invoked the legal principles laid down by the Supreme Court in various cases which allay criteria and conditions for invocation of estoppel res judicata. Even a first year University LLB student would be upset with the judgment of the tribunal and Court of Appeal and would conveniently name them “political judgments” since the two judgments failed to consider those legal principles adduced by the APC and deliberately refused to apply the INTERPOL Report which is based on the Order of Federal High Court, Lagos Division.
b. In the decision of the Supreme Court in Akan Ekpe Okon v. PDP reported in Nigerian Weekly Law Report as (2023) 10 NWLR ( PT. 1893 ) SC 501, the ratio holds two concluding facts (1) that the case of Akan Ekpe Okon was pre-mature, inchoate and had no base at all, since the allegation was presented to PDP and not INEC, as spelt out by the Constitution; (2) that Akan Ekpe Okon could not prove his case. How does that bind the whole world and people who have distinct facts and issues in proving Pastor Umo Eno’s presentation of forged certificates to INEC?
30. Despite the in-depth legal research of many years, I am unable to understand the rationale of those judgments. Perhaps, I am lost in unfamiliarity with Nigerian law! But wherever and whatever it is, all laws, to an extent, are subject to logic of reasonableness and precedents. When will Nigerian judges stop ridiculing and insulting the cultural sensibilities of Nigerian citizens in stake of cash-and-carry judgments? When will they deliver judgment that lawyers and the laymen, collectively, can easily understand the judicious rationale that such judgment is predicated upon, as seen in civilized climes?
31. I am persuaded that the judiciary should do all it can to ensure that criminal convicts no matter how smart they may be, do not get into public offices. Such being allowed to happen is far too expensive for the image of the country. Of course, an international mortification of a gargantuan proportion.
32. By the type of judgments being chunked out and reports that earlier fly around the social media, which even common sense may boldly say that they are against the weight of evidence and law, some people have asked if the President of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Monica Bolna’an Donghan-Mensem may have practically constituted and piloted the Akwa Ibom Governorship Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal panel as her own babies. It is public knowledge that Hon. Justice B. M. Basil, the daughter of President of Court of Appeal was in Akwa Ibom State Election Petition panel. While I see nothing wrong with that, on the court of public opinion, it raises a question of coincidence and integrity of such shocking judgments. Why? The tribunal could not have jettisoned the credible and uncontroverted evidence from INTERPOL and refused to attend to the question whether or not there was substantial regularity of the fraudulently procured order purportedly made on January 11, 2023, as pleaded by the APC, without cogent and judicious reasons. There is only one possible explanation in the mind of a reasonable and logical man. Such a question of coincidence and integrity of judgment is what the judiciary must try to avoid always. To maintain judicial integrity, justice must not always be done only, it must be seen to have been done by both the learned and laymen.
B.Implication of the Tribunal and Court of Appeal judgments on Nigeria
32.Far more serious is the potential effect of these issues. It is tantamount to saying that it does not matter whether the judgment that convicted Pastor Umo Bassey Eno was truly set aside or not, whether procured order of January 11, 2023 is characterized by fraud and collusion. A precedent is established, that if you are convicted, much as you have access to money or can access state treasury, all you need to do is to type and print a paper detailing that the judgment that convicted you has been set aside, meet court officials, give them much money to sign or stamp for you anywhere without any judicial proceedings. The Court will then uphold presumption of regularity. If this is allowed to stand, many courts judgments will not require court proceedings and applications or appeal to set them aside. All one needs to do is to collude with court officials to make up documents.
33. On the aspect of presentation of forged certificate, a precedent is established that once an individual who knows that he has presented forged certificate to an institution needs to do, is to hire his friend to file a suit and deliberately fail to prove it, so that anytime he is questioned by either law enforcement agency or any petitioner, the Court will prohibit any inquiries into the authenticity of the alleged presentation of forged certificate.
34. These are precedents the election tribunal and Court of Appeal just created in Nigeria through the instrumentality of the Governorship election petition in Akwa Ibom State.
35. Assuming the parties, particularly the APC decides to approach the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court, in its overriding wisdom and powers, decide to uphold the decisions of the Court of Appeal, the fact that one can simply print from his house or anywhere, a document portraying setting aside an Order of a Court of competent jurisdiction and give a judge or magistrate in his house or room to sign in exchange of money, without formal judicial proceedings and the fact that, all one will need to legalize a forged certificate is to hire his friend to file a suit without proving it, so as to plead judgment in rem, will become new precedents in Nigerian law.
C. RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSIONS
1. To the President of Nigeria
Each nation, by definition, has had history of political and moral questions. Most were easily resolved when the head of government demonstrate his will power towards corrective measures. I know there is a limit the president can do, but he can consult with the National Assembly and present Executive Bill to tackle judicial corruption and enhance judiciary independence and integrity within the framework of constitutional amendment. The president can set up expert committees to see to this line of proposal.
On the specific issue of which has been brought to the fore, I believe the president has the power to recommend to appropriate authorities, particularly to NJC and JSC or where appropriate, to investigate the roles played by the Hon. Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf (Chief Judge of FCT), the Registrar of the Magistrate Court, Wuse Zone 6, Mrs. Sarah James, Hon. Justice Belgore among others, on the purported order of 11th January, 2023. This should include the sudden wealth accumulation and financial status of these individuals between the months of January 2023 till recent times.
2. To National Judicial Council (NJC)
The NJC should:
Set up a committee of amicus and retired judges known for integrity and intellectual excellence, to review controversial judgments handed by several courts and tribunals, other than those of the Supreme Court. The committee can receive reports/petitions of glaring disproportionate judgments, review them and invite the judges for questioning where the basis of their judgment is found wanting.
Two factors stand as causal elements to the problem of Nigeria judiciary, (i) Intellectual poverty of some judicial officers and (ii) Corruption. The process of which appointment of judges are made should be reviewed forthwith, due consideration to creating a mechanism for only the best brains and tested characters to be appointed into the Bench.
3. To the International Community
The developed countries and their regional blocks should assist Nigerians by regularly liaise with National Judicial Council (NJC) to receive names of judges facing petitions on grounds of bias, corruption and question of judicial integrity. Ensure they are not entitled to Visa for any programs outside Nigeria, including medical visas until their allegations are cleared.
4. With all my heart love, accept my highest regards, and God bless you.
Cyprian F. Edward-Ekpo,
PHU’s Distinguished Professor of International Environmental Law, Newark, Deleware, USA; & SIA’s Professor of Public International Law, London, United Kingdom; Director-General, Institute of Law Research & Development of United Nations, Washington DC, USA; Director & Board Member, Universal School of Eclectic Analysis, Legal Research & Law Studies (UNISERL), Suffolk, United Kingdom.”
