A meeting of the National Judicial Council (NJC) scheduled for Saturday was abruptly canceled last night by the embattled body, charged with the responsibility for monitoring, investigating and sanctioning unethical conduct by the country’s judges.
An NJC source, however, stated that instead of the enlarged meeting, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Muhammad Mahmud met with a group of selected NJC members in Abuja today where it was decided that the Supreme Court won’t be assigning cases to two of its justices involved in the corruption probe. The informal meeting decided no to issue a communique but the CJN issued a statement on behalf of his office stating the raid on judges’ homes is an “assault on the independence of the judiciary.”
The meeting was to discuss the recommendation of a subcommittee that had investigated a petition against the current President of the Court of Appeal, Zainab Bulkachuwa. SaharaReporters learned that the meeting was canceled via a text message to members of the NJC. No new date has been fixed for another meeting, a member of the council told our correspondent.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan had in 2014 appointed Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa as President of the Nigerian Court of Appeals. Lawyers and judicial workers say the female jurist came to the court with a notoriety for corruption so bad that a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar, wanted to be on record as opposing her elevation to the Court of Appeals.
Several lawyers said Justice Bulkachuwa had a history of accepting massive amounts of bribe to tailor electoral dispute cases for the highest bidder. An NJC source disclosed that the council’s investigation of the latest petition against the judge found overwhelming evidence of her corruption. The NJC panel that investigated Justice Bulkachuwa recommended her compulsory retirement. However, last night the NJC canceled a meeting that was scheduled to take place today at the Supreme Court complex in Abuja.
A source told SaharaReporters that the surprise call by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) demanding that judges recently arrested by the Department of State Security should step aside jolted the NJC. SaharaReporters had earlier reported that the body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) met in Lagos and took a position on the crisis bedeviling the judicial sector, they decide to back the NBA in their call asking for judges accused of corruption to step aside.
A member of the NJC told SaharaReporters that more than fifteen judges, including Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, were found guilty of corruption and should have been sacked by the council, adding that powerful members of the NJC had maneuvered the process in order to approve only three judges for compulsory retirement. The source said part of the impediments to fighting judicial corruption was the presence of corruption within the NJC itself. “Internal corruption within the National Judicial Council has been hampering the effective administration of justice against corrupt judges,” said the source.
He cited the example of a former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, who was notorious for corruption but still headed a subcommittee of the NJC that investigated the recently retired Enugu State Chief Judge, Innocent Umezulike. “I believe Justice Umezulike succeeded in reaching out to Justice Umaru Abdullahi and got him to dismiss all the major allegations against him. It took the intervention of some members of the NJC during its enlarged meeting to reverse the subcommittee’s decision,” the source disclosed.
An Enugu-based lawyer told SaharaReporters that, based on assurances from Justice Umaru Abdullahi, Justice Umezulike had planned to throw a huge party to celebrate his exoneration and “innocence.” The lawyer said the NJC’s final verdict, which ordered Justice Umezulike’s compulsory retirement, “totally devastated the discredited former Chief Judge of Enugu.”
BY SAHARAREPORTERS
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