CAN OSINBAJO SAVE THE JUDICIARY (1)
Here comes an outstanding opportunity to reform the judiciary, argues
One notable figure to watch in the incoming Buhari administration is vice president-elect Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN. Osinbajo would be very visible in the incoming administration. His input will help in defining and shaping the Buhari administration. No matter what happens, Osinbajo will never forget his first passion and primary constituency called the judiciary. In Prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of them was cured except Naaman, the Syrian. With the same analogy, there are many leprous institutions in Nigeria at the moment but none of them is in dire need of a cure other than the judiciary.
The judiciary is a veritable third arm of government. It is the ultimate safeguard of civilised conduct. If we are not ruled by law we shall be descending into anarchy and chaos. The judiciary is the bulwark of democracy. In fact it is a pre-requisite not only for the sustenance of democracy but for good governance. Our democratisation experiment will be aborted if the judiciary is convoluted or politicised. Therefore if the Buhari government intends to succeed it must revamp and reinvigorate the judiciary. This is where Osinbajo comes in. I have never seen the Redeemed Christian Church of God pastor curing a leper but I believe he can assist the next federal attorney-general in curing our judiciary of its ills. His track records as justice sector reformer eloquently speak volumes. For example, as Lagos State Attorney-General from 1999 to 2007, Osinbajo initiated many revolutionary rules, policies and programmes which successfully led to court rules reforms, criminal justice reforms and administration of justice reforms.
This is the moment Osinbajo has been waiting for to finally intervene and heal our judiciary of its seemingly progressive and incurable leprousy. Osinbajo cannot squander this moment. In the next four years, he should not seek to be embroiled in the politics of the All Progressives Congress (APC), rather he should seek to resuscitate and re-build important sick institutions in Nigeria such as the judiciary. No matter what anybody may say, the Nigerian judicial is seriously sick and needs immediate healing. Former Chief Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar rightly traced the sickness to the human persons who play different vital roles in the dispensation of justice in Nigeria. For example, she acknowledged that administrative injustice wrought by judicial personnel such as court bailiffs, court clerks, court registrars, court messengers and other judicial
Sonnie Ekwowusi
personnel who play vital roles in the dispensation of justice begets legal injustice.
Therefore instead of re-inventing the will or taking solace in empty judicial reforms, Osinbajo should assist in confronting headlong the human problems making the judiciary unworkable. I have consistently argued that it is not enough to, for instance, computerise the court rooms or introduce the Woolf’s front-loading method or introduce the best High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules. These are innovative judicial means used by persons employed by government to achieve a desired end. Now, if these persons using these judicial means are crooks themselves it follows that such innovative judicial means will inevitably become crooked.
The philosophy of government has since the origin of man fascinated many philosophers, political scientists and thinkers. Reading the works of Plato, Thomas Paine, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Adam, Christopher Dawson, John Cardinal Newman, Alex De Tocqueville, Edmund Burke, John Stuart Mill, T.S Elliot, Fredric Bastiat and others, a reader acquires a new dept and a new height about the roles of world rulers and governments, and, in fact, come to appreciate the abuses of democracy and government. To Edmund Burke, government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants, and among these wants is that of sufficient restraint on human passions. But in his appraisal of the English form of government in foremost book, Common Sense, Tom Paine writes that government is a necessary evil. For were the impulses of consciences and laws clear, uniform and obeyed, man would need no government. But that not being the case, man has found it necessary to surrender himself to some rulers for his protection and promotion of his interests.
This surrendering of self is done on the assumption that government is conscious of its proper role in society and is out to promote the rights and interests of the citizenry. But the contrary is always the case. The truth of the matter is that most things the government touches, at least in Nigeria, turns bad. Most government institutions in Nigeria are completely run down. Most court rooms are in bad shape. The air-conditioners, ceiling fans, furniture in the rooms are often out of order. And if not out of order, the court will not be sitting on that day because his lordship has gone for a conference in Abuja or has travelled out of the country and probably will not be back in one week.