Politics
Falana Speaks On CJN: Presidency Shouldn’t Be In A Hurry & Engage In Jungle Justice
Of course, it is not in dispute that the NJC is headed by the CJN but that does not preclude aggrieved parties from reporting allegations of misconduct against His Lordship to the NJC. If the NJC has to consider any allegation of misconduct against the CJN, His Lordship cannot preside over the meeting or the proceedings in line with the elementary tenet of natural justice which is that he cannot be the judge who will determine his own case. The principle is known as nemo judex in causa sua. Many Nigerians have quickly forgotten that when Justice Ayo Salami, former President of the Court of Appeal, accused the former Chief Justice, the late Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, of perverting the course of justice in the appeal arising from the Sokoto State governorship election petition in 2011 the Chief Justice had to recuse himself from presiding over the proceedings of the NJC on the matter.
Do you think the charges against the CJN might be a plot by the ruling party to have control of the judiciary against the coming elections?
I do not know the basis for the speculation. It is on record that Justice Walter Onnoghen, along with Justice Adesola Oguntade and Justice Aloma Muktar, who later became the first female Chief Justice, delivered a dissenting judgment in favour of candidate Muhammadu Buhari in the Buhari/Yar’Adua presidential election petition in 2007. If the ruling party wins the forthcoming presidential election, the Supreme Court cannot afford to annul it.
For example, when the National Assembly refused to pass the bill for the establishment of an anti-corruption court the Chief Justice suo motu directed all heads of courts to create special judicial divisions to hear corruption cases alone. The special judicial divisions have been established and they are working in the respective high courts. Even both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal have set up special panels to hear corruption matters. No doubt, a couple of important cases have been lost by the Buhari regime in recent time but it is not an expression of ideological disagreement. Ours is not like the Supreme Court of the United States of America whose decisions are largely anchored on political considerations.
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