Nigeria @57: Challenges of judgment enforcement
Today in Nigeria it is generally believed that it is easier to obtain court judgments than enforcing them.
One of the recent classical cases is the Supreme Court judgment that ordered the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to reinstate Comptroller Abdullahi Bello Gusau into the service.
In a unanimous decision, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the NCS challenging the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja which in July 2014 ordered the reinstatement of Comptroller Abdullahi Bello Gusau.
Apart from the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, other justices of the Supreme Court that sat on the panel were Musa Dattijo Muhammad, Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, Ejembi Eko, who delivered the lead judgment and Sidi Dauda Bage.
Bello was never queried before his retirement was announced on NTA network news and was never served retirement letter as his salary was stopped December 2009 while he won at Court of Appeal in 2014.
When the case started in 2011 at the Federal High Court in Abuja, there were two plaintiffsComptroller A. A Ahmed and Comptroller Bello Gusau. However their case was dismissed in that Court which prompted an appeal to the Court of Appeal. But Comptroller A. A. Ahmed died a day after the Court of Appeal delivered its judgment reinstating Comptroller Abdullahi Bello Gusau.
Bello was reinstated but asked to stay for 6 months as a contract staff by the NCS contrary to the Court of Appeal judgment. He was posted as Comptroller Statistics to the NCS Garki, Abuja and at the same time posted to NCS Zonal office, Lagos in February 2015. He was given two postings within 10 days. In March 2015, NCS completely stopped paying his salary.
In a chat with Daily Trust, he said that the NCS used its power improperly to retire him in Dec. 2009. “When i won my case at Court of Appeal Abuja July 2014 NCS intentionally willfully refused to obey the Court of Appeal order. The NCS Authority acted in bad faith in respect of my illegal premature retirement despite my grand victory in the Supreme Court of Nigeria they again willfully refused to comply with the order and judgmnt of Supreme Court as they did in year 2014. This is a naked injustice and victimisation done to me which can not be justified”, he said.
Officers from the same zone with Bello were granted accelerated promotions in 2004 and 2007 to level 16 while others were promoted to ACG and DCG leaving him on the rank of Comptroller for 9 years. Also while he was struggling in Courts between 2012 and 2015, his juniors from the same zone were again promoted to ACG and DCG.
Funsho Ogunekun said “No one would expect that this type of thing would happen during President Mohammadu Buhari’s regime. Nobody will also expect that Col. Hamid Ali Retd Comptroller General NCS who is honest, credible, and known to be a man of integrity and a disciplinarian could allow such a thing under his watch.”
Investigation reveals that such issues are not limited to Bello’s case as many other successful litigants are going through similar experiences of refusal to enforce judgment.
On January 25, 2017 an Abuja Federal High Court ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to release four teachers arrested in Nasarawa State in March, 2014 on allegations of belonging to the Boko Haram sect. Three months after, the order has not been obeyed. Their liberties are still denied with no formal charge.
In the case of the former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki, the courts became helpless as their order to release Dasuki from detention has continually been disobeyed.
In June 2016, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja fined the Nigerian government the sum of $3.3 million as compensation over the extrajudicial killing of eight persons at an uncompleted building in Apo, Abuja in September, 2013. The court ordered the payment of $200,000 to the families of each of the persons killed in the raid and $150,000 to the 12 others injured from the attack. Almost a year on, no step has been taken to either review the order or obey it.
Reacting, the Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution, Chief Okoi Obono-obla, said the judiciary as a branch of government should have its own Sheriff or Marshall entrusted with the responsibility for the maintenance of law and order in the court, security of the court premises, protection of judges, and enforcement of judgments.
“It is almost impossible presently to enforce judgments against the police or the army or any other powerful government agency,” he said.
Recently, during a media parley, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said that his ministry has got an approval from the Presidency for the re-establishment of the Judgment Debt Verification Committee and consequently, the committee will assist in reducing the quantum of existing and accruing judgment debts associated with prolonged non-payment of judgment debts against the Federal Government and its MDAs by reaching a compromise with the judgment creditors on modalities and payment of such debts.