As reported in the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) survey, last week, Nigerian lawyers and other patrons of the judiciary offered N9.4 billion as bribes to judges between 2018 and 2020. A 84-page survey report entitled, “Nigeria Corruption Index: Report of a pilot survey 2020,” disclosed that the private sector ranked next to what it called the judicial sector in corruption levels. The survey noted that the incidents of graft in the private business sector contributed greatly to the national level of corruption. The study drew its 901 respondents from the judiciary out of which 638 of them (70.81 per cent) were lawyers, judges 124 or 13.76 per cent of the respondents, while 25 court clerks and registrars (courts staff) constituted 2.77 per cent.
Explaining the exceedingly huge amount of the bribes, the report attributed this to the “stupendously high amount of money offered as bribe to judges by lawyers handling electoral and political cases.” The report stated that 9.9 per cent of the lawyers admitted paying N5.7 billion as bribes for cases that had to do with elections.
The ICPC described the report as a pilot study, and it deserves every encouragement. The commission has for years been seen as taking the back seat in the fight against corruption, except on the few occasions when it appeared as being used as political tool by the administration. So, the ICPC is welcome to join the crusade, a waning fight that seems to be losing momentum every passing day.
Now, the idea of a judge collecting a bribe to decide a case in court is simply an abomination. It is difficult to describe it in less explicit terms. Having inherited the British legal system where corruption was a taboo, Nigeria has boasted of jurists of international eminence, from Teslim Elias through Charles Onyeama to Akinola Aguda; backed by scores of high court judges and justices of the Supreme Court who left a reputation for their incorruptibility.
There was always that shadow of doubt that all was not well, that there might be a few bad apples in the system. A few lonely voices from the bar have periodically raised alarms and expressed their frustrations. But somehow, Nigerians generally took refuge in the saying that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man. The ICPC report has now punctured that ‘feel-good’ sentiment and shocked Nigerians back to realism, the judiciary cannot be an island of probity surrounded by a sea of filth.
The survey made references to electoral and political cases. This is barely surprising. In Nigeria, political offices are strewn with gold and the quickest route to stupendous wealth is getting into political office. And political corruption is the foundation of most corruption. The amounts of money paid to senior lawyers by politicians seem to make judges envious. The amount of money political clients are ready to spend to fight their cases in court encourages the lawyers to tempt the judges. Time was when the remuneration of the judges was poor and problematic, but that is in the past. Nigerian judges are as well paid as Nigerians in other branches of government. Those in the legislative branch are considered the best paid legislators in the world while those in the executive seem to have unlimited resources. State governors control huge sums called ‘security vote’ for which there is no accountability.
Election cases seem so lucrative and it is no wonder why almost all Nigerian elections end up in the courts. In the US, President Donald Trump took his allegations of electoral fraud through 61 courts, including the courts of the judges he appointed. They all declined to hear the case, and when they heard it, gave it short shrift. The American tradition is that the choice of leaders is best done in the polling booth, not in the court room, except in extraordinary circumstances.
The Federal Government should constitute a task force to tackle this issue because any fight against corruption in a system where the bench is suspect is like pouring water into a sieve. The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, should liaise with the Nigerian Bar Association branches and conduct a discreet surveillance before moving against the culprits. They should be named and shamed. Judges are expected to be like the proverbial Caesar’s wife – above suspicion.
A corrupt judge is no longer a judge. He has become a danger to society and must be removed and punished. The world seems to have reached unanimity that the rule of law is one of the critical factors for sustainable development and poverty alleviation. And when corrupt influences affect the outcome of judicial decisions, the rule of law will not prevail.