CORRUPT JUDGES WORSE THAN BOKO HARARM —NBA

THE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), on Wednesday, lamented that there are bad eggs on the Bench, saying corrupt judges are worse than the Boko Haram sect in the country.
Admitting that the judiciary is facing immense problems, NBA president, Okey Wali, submitted that bad eggs on the Bench were “so bad that they have exhibited the potential of destroying the judiciary and, by extension, this nation.
“They are worse than the mob, they are doing more harm to this nation, even than the worst terrorist group in the world, Boko Haram.
“As 2015 approaches, they are getting more daring. The sad thing is that the public perception is worse than this, because to the public, it is the judiciary that is letting Nigerians down.”
Instead of jetting across the globe seeking the ever elusive foreign investor, the NBA called on the Federal Government to fix the nation’s judiciary which would in turn, inspire confidence in persons or organisations that want to invest in the country.
Wali stated this in Abuja during the valedictory court session held in honour of Justice Christopher Chukwuma-Eneh, who bowed out of the Supreme Court at the mandatory retirement age of 70, adding that the earlier the Federal Government realised that the judiciary was pivotal to the well-being of the country, the better for everybody.
“This is no ego tripping, law and order and the economy of this country revolve around the judiciary”, the NBA boss said and urged the federal government to fund the judiciary properly to inspire confidence in foreign investors that the country is stable.
In the bid to rid the bar of bad eggs, Wali said the NBA was strongly behind the moves by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, to rid the judiciary of corrupt officers, adding that in the last 12 months, 11 legal practitioners had been disbarred, with two suspended for five years for professional misconduct.
He further said over 47 were being tried by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) of the NBA and over 126 being investigated by the association.
He reiterated the association’s call for amnesty for Boko Haram members, just as the NBA boss called on the sect members to stop the killing of innocent citizens in the country.
In his address on behalf of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), Mr K.S Okeaya-Inneh, called for a reform at all levels of the judiciary.
He said the role of governors in appointing and exercising disciplinary control over the Chief Judge of any state should be subjected to the participation of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the House of Assembly of the state, to ensure transparency and observance of the rule of law.
Furthermore, Inneh said that some members of the inner bar should be appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court, provided such appointee had not attained the constitutional retirement age of 70, adding that this was being practised in some advanced countries of the world.
In their separate speeches at the valedictory session, the CJN and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) described Justice Chukwuma-Inneh as a distinguished judge, an accomplished learned gentleman richly endowed with sharp analytical mind and enormous aptitude for research, which he brought to bear in his numerous judgments.
Source: Tribune