Judges not above the law –AGF

Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, yesterday said no one is above the law in the country.

The minister, who spoke at the inauguration ceremony of the “Country expert review committee for the second cycle of the review of implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption said nobody, no matter how highly placed is above the law.

He was reacting to last weekend’s arrest of seven judges across the country by the Department of State Services, DSS.

He said: “No one is or should be above the law.

“Was there an allegation of crime? Was there relevant provision of criminal procedure responsible for investigation? “Is there an allegation of corruption? If there is, nobody, no matter how highly placed will be spared.

“The right to investigate has not been taken away from the constitution. The allegation both on criminality and no one is or should be above the law.

“Neither the judiciary nor the executive will be exempted from investigation.”

Malami, who on Monday, had shunned a valedictory session the Supreme Court held in honour of one of its retired Justices, Suleiman Galadima, noted that there was prima facie case against the judges, who are still being expected to be arraigned in court.

“The fundamental consideration is whether there is an allegation of the commission of a crime; whether there is the need for investigation, and whether the relevant provisions of the law and, indeed, all circumstances, as provided in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act are put into consideration in our conduct as regard the fight against corruption.

“The bottom line is that we have a responsibility to fight corruption. Corruption is a crime and nobody, regardless of how highly placed, is exempted as far as issues that border on crimes and criminalities are concerned,” he added.

DSS operatives had last week clamped down on the seven judges accused of complicity in acts of corruption.

The development had, however, attracted both negative and positive response from Nigerians, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, who described the development as regretful and distressful.

The judges are Justices Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta, both of the Supreme Court; Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court Abuja; Kabir Auta of Kano High Court; Muazu Pindiga of Gombe High Court; Mohammed Tsamiya of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin and the Chief Judge of Enugu State, I. A. Umezulike.

Earlier, the AGF expressed confidence in the ability of members to execute their responsibilities and charged them to hit the ground running.

He further noted that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would put adequate facilities in place to ensure that recovered loots were profitably managed.

He said: “No doubt, the extant review focusing on Chapter II and V of UNCAC relating to preventive measures against corruption in public and private sectors and assets recovery, is both necessary and timely at this time in the annals of the country, when endemic and systemic corruption has created a great disconnect between our nation’s wealth and the quality of life of ordinary citizens.

“As we are all aware, Nigeria is a state-party to UNCAC, which is the first global legally binding international anti-corruption instrument.”

Members of the Committee were drawn from Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Bureau of Public Procurement, Code of Conduct Bureau, Corporate Affairs Commission, Federal Ministry of Finance, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, National Human Rights Commission, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, among other agencies.

Meanwhile, as more reactions trail the arrest, Senate yesterday chided DSS for what the lawmakers described as the “draconian manner” agents of the service invaded the residences of the judges.

This was as President Muhammadu Buhari forwarded names of two Court of Appeal Justices for elevation to the Supreme Court.

The two Justices are Justices Sidi Dauda Bage from Nasarawa State and Paul Adamu Galinje.

The condemnation of the action of the DSS followed the adoption of a motion by Senator Joshua Ledani (PDP, Gombe State), which was raised via matters of urgent national importance.

The lawmakers also reiterated their continued support for the efforts to eliminate corruption from Nigeria because of the harm it is doing to the country.

But the senators urged President Buhari to call all security agencies to order and direct them to comply with the full observance of the Rule of Law in the discharge of their duties.

They condemned DSS for going beyond its operational bounds by usurping the powers of the National Judicial Council, NJC, which they noted had the statutory powers of handling matters of misconduct and indiscipline against judicial officers.
According to the lawmakers, the act of breaking into the residences of judicial officers at night with chisel and hammer was one that had further worsened the image of Nigeria among the comity of nations.

The senators also threatened to amend the DSS Act to ensure that such behaviour is not repeated by the service

In the House of Representatives an ad-hoc committee was constituted to investigate all cases of invasion of property and arrest of persons for reasons outside the general duties of DSS as prescribed by the National Securities Act from May 29, 2015.

The decision followed a motion moved under matter of urgent public importance by Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers State) during yesterday’s plenary.

Leading the debate on his motion, Chinda pointed out that the powers of the DSS as enumerated in section (2)(3) and (6) of the National Security Agencies Act 1986 does not include investigation and prosecution of corruption and abuse of office.

The lawmaker said neither the Attorney General as the Chief Law Officer of the federation nor the NJC was informed by DSS before the arrests were made.

It was, however, noted that the provisions of section 153(1)(i) and part 1 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 constitution establishes the NJC with power to regulate and discipline judicial officers.

The lawmaker said if the invasion goes unchecked, it may truncate the nation’s democracy or culminate in the introduction of self-help by affected citizens, which could lead to anarchy.

Given the prayer of the motion, it was subsequently adopted by the House and agreed that the ad-hoc committee should report back within six weeks.

However, National Association of Nigerian Post-graduate Students (NAN-POSTGRADs) has expressed support for the DSS in its fight against corruption and acts that could threaten internal security.

President of the association, Mr. Kingsley Nwanze, expressed the support in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday.

Nwanze expressed surprise at the reaction of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and NJC to the arrest of some judges by the DSS operatives.

He described the arrest as a “positive action to rescue the nation from judicial rascality.”

Nwanze noted that the organisations had not done the needful by disciplining those judges and referring them to necessary security agencies for prosecution.

He said that if such action was taken, the “DSS would not have gone on a rescue mission.”

The president said that if the revelations in the service press statement were objects of fact, “then any right thinking person or organisation should rather appreciate the collective efforts of the DSS in ridding the judiciary of endemic corruption than vilification.

“For us as an organisation, we cannot but give kudos to these positive actions aimed at making our judicial system the fair arbiter of good justice.

“This has also shown that it is no longer business as usual, a situation where justice is no longer for the highest bidder rather than for those who deserve justice.”

Nwanze urged the DSS to sustain the tempo in the fight against corruption and not to be deterred by negative criticisms by interested parties.

“It is also true that there are individual actions that can jeopardise the internal security of our dear nation, while the corrupt action of these judges has potent capacities to do so,” Nwanze said.

He said that the association supported President Buhari in the actions that he had taken so far, to rid Nigeria of corruption, adding that they were in line with constitutional provisions.

According to him, to rid a nation of corruption is in the interest of everybody irrespective of religion, ethnicity, profession and status.

Meanwhile, NJC will today continue its emergency meeting over the arrests.
Our correspondent gathered that the Council adjourned the meeting, following its inability to conclude on issues discussed.

According to a source who confided in our correspondent, the council in its six hours marathon meeting deliberated on the clamp down and how it could possibly convey its stand to the Executive.

The source said members were sad with the development, which they described as a clear affront on the judiciary.

 National Mirror

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