The DSS has no business arresting or arraigning judges on issues of corruption. In the Judiciary, the National Judicial Council NJC is duty bound to receive petitions, allow the judges to write a detailed defence and on the merit of which they may be suspended or not.

Now, it is only when a judge is suspended or retired from active service that he may be handed over by the NJC to the attorney General for criminal prosecution.

The idea behind this is the independence of the Judiciary.

The judiciary has its self cleansing machinery. Just like you cannot arrest a police officer without disarming him first, same way an active judge must be treated with respect at all times.

One other profession where this philosophy applies is the academia where unlike a lecturer, a tenured professor must be given his full right to respond to accusations before the University senate can vote to dismiss him from service. The idea there again is to protect his free-mindedness away from personal vendetta and undue victimisation.

I fear a day when judges become so afraid of the president's axe that they shy from judging in truth and fairness under the fear of being arrested, on the basis of mere suspecion.

Now what is happening?

I'll tell you what is happening.

Many "educated" Nigerians have absolutely no idea about the code of conduct of sitting judges. The moment you become a judge, you are automatically barred from speaking to the press on any matter even while you are being oppressed.

So when you subject a judge to public harassment such as "N50 million was found in his bedroom" etc, being an active judge, he is duty bound not to clarify issues to the press in defence of his image. This is why the protocol in my first paragraph is what it is.

Furthermore, while many "educated" Nigerians would happily feast on the news of arrest and humiliation of judges by a government that has actually failed to offer them the best of service conditions, little do they know that while the fight against corruption must be total, and harsh, the rule of law must always be followed.

Otherwise, you will continue to fail on the basis of "legal technicalities"

The DSS has no business arresting public servants on non-terrorist related matters.

Having said these, let me emphasise that I support the cleansing of the judiciary. There are the real professional judges, and there are the politicIan judges. From the way they were appointed, it is easy to say. Or how do you explain a judge who was a first-lady?

The politician judges were only planted into the system by politicians for political reasons. Reasons such as the perpetual injunction. They live above their means and they don't even hide their effrontery. We must weed them out.

The real professional judges were appointed on the merit of their CV. They had been lawyers of several decades of law practice, winning arguments in the supreme courts, settling disputes among extended families, and working several hours a day.

The real professional judges don't take bribes, they live within and even below their means, preferring to support the welfare of the needy when they can. They spend several hours sitting and listening to cases in court, they even stay up late to research on the law and come up with well thought rulings. They read out their judgment and even the losers smile, knowing that justice has truly been served. They do not attend parties and they do not receive visitors. They do not have connections, so they rarely get promoted. The real professional judges are judges who merit the name.

The real professional judges are few, but when I think about the judiciary, I think about the few.

So as for the politician judges, whether it is EFCC or DSS or ICPC or NJC that comes knocking, Biko, go and defend yourselves ...stop forming solidarity.

balderdash

Jibril659:
balderdash

utter crap

Many "educated" Nigerians have absolutely no idea about the code of conduct of sitting judges. The moment you become a judge, you are automatically barred from speaking to the press on any matter even while you are being oppressed.

"on ANY matter"? I dont agree. I've seen quite a number of judges granting interviews. Only recently, the chief judge of FCT was interview by channels. If you're referring to pending cases, then I can understand.

So when you subject a judge to public harassment such as "N50 million was found in his bedroom" etc, being an active judge, he is duty bound not to clarify issues to the press in defence of his image. This is why the protocol in my first paragraph is what it is.

What about the Salami vs Katsina Alu case? I clearly recall the former going to the press to clear his name.

The fact of the matter is that the judiciary has been terribly, terribly compromised. The 'self cleansing' mechanism is clearly not functional. Or how do you explain judges giving 'perpetual injunction' like Odili's? case (ie, do not EVER arraign him again!!) Or those that gave Igbinedoin and Ibori a pat in the back for robbing their respective states blind? the list goes on. . .

There is separation of powers, no doubt, but there must still be checks and balances. Just as the NASS members will be reluctant to try one of thier own, the NJC, due respect to them, have failed woefully in bringing erring judges to book.

That said, I cant say I support the treatment meted to the judges sha. . .

alezzy13:

"on ANY matter"? I dont agree. I've seen quite a number of judges granting interviews. Only recently, the chief judge of FCT was interview by channels. If you're referring to pending cases, then I can understand.


What about the Salami vs Katsina Alu case? I clearly recall the former going to the press to clear his name.

The fact of the matter is that the judiciary has been terribly, terribly compromised. The 'self cleansing' mechanism is clearly not functional. Or how do you explain judges giving 'perpetual injunction' like Odili's? case (ie, do not EVER arraign him again!!) Or those that gave Igbinedoin and Ibori a pat in the back for robbing their respective states blind? the list goes on. . .

There is separation of powers, no doubt, but there must still be checks and balances. Just as the NASS members will be reluctant to try one of thier own, the NJC, due respect to them, have failed woefully in bringing erring judges to book.

That said, I cant say I support the treatment meted to the judges sha. . .

Salami was first suspended.
Katsina-Alu couldn't respond to Salami in the media while still active.

Check your facts.

Also I will like to see those active judges you say have been granting press interviews. Can you share links pls?

now clap 4 ur sef hidiot

am in full support of this fight to sanitise our judiciary, but again this is one sided, what about the judges that delivered judgement on Kogi state governorship election, someone should not tell me money did not exchange hands!! but is just APC so they are immune to this kind of harassment

One thing most of us must agree on is that most of our judges are corrupt.

The NJC has only been recommending judges for retirement and not prosecution.

Bribe taking is a criminal offence

I believe the judiciary arm is well protected what some of you will call independence of the judiciary and that's why most of them have been abusing their powers. They think they are untouchable.

The internal cleansing mechanism in the judiciary is not even effective at all because it hasn't reduced the number of corrupt judges.

Going by the DSS statement they said they carried out investigations on these judges after months of surveillance. And they submitted their reports to the NJC, the NJC in return shielded their colleagues and only recommended two for retirement and prosecution.

The only thing bringing divergence of opinions is the way and manner these judges were arrested..

Some are saying they should invited first but they forgot the constitution has empowered the DSS to carry raids on houses with a valid search warrant.
If they don't carry out raids how will they recover evidence? Won't the suspects bury evidence if invited?

Another angle is that Dss can't prosecute corruption cases but they forgot that the DSS is empowered to prosecute economic crime cases


The real question bothering my mind is if bribe taking is an economic crime?


But my brothers this our judiciary needs thorough cleansing walahi.. There are way too much corrupt judges in the system

omofunaab:
One thing most of us must agree on is that most of our judges are corrupt.

The NJC has only been recommending judges for retirement and not prosecution.

Bribe taking is a criminal offence

I believe the judiciary arm is well protected what some of you will call independence of the judiciary and that's why most of them have been abusing their powers. They think they are untouchable.

The internal cleansing mechanism in the judiciary is not even effective at all because it hasn't reduced the number of corrupt judges.

Going by the DSS statement they said they carried out investigations on these judges after months of surveillance. And they submitted their reports to the NJC, the NJC in return shielded their colleagues and only recommended two for retirement and prosecution.

The only thing bringing divergence of opinions is the way and manner these judges were arrested..

Some are saying they should invited first but they forgot the constitution has empowered the DSS to carry raids on houses with a valid search warrant.
If they don't carry out raids how will they recover evidence? Won't the suspects bury evidence if invited?

Another angle is that Dss can't prosecute corruption cases but they forgot that the DSS is empowered to prosecute economic crime cases


The real question bothering my mind is if bribe taking is an economic crime?


But my brothers this our judiciary needs thorough cleansing walahi.. There are way too much corrupt judges in the system

economic crime covers a wide range of offences, from financial crimes committed by banks, tax evasion, illicit capital heavens, money laundering, crimes committed by public officials (like bribery, embezzlement, traffic of influences, etc.) among many others.

Lalasticlala

profosa:


economic crime covers a wide range of offences, from financial crimes committed by banks, tax evasion, illicit capital heavens, money laundering, crimes committed by public officials (like bribery, embezzlement, traffic of influences, etc.) among many others.

So in that sense, DSS has the power to prosecute the judges suspected of taking bribes

CACAWA:


Salami was first suspended.
Katsina-Alu couldn't respond to Salami in the media while still active.

Check your facts.

Also I will like to see those active judges you say have been granting press interviews. Can you share links pls?

Just saw this.

Well, from what I could gather, Salami granted interview before his suspension. The interview was allegedly published by Thisday in its JAn 25th 2011 edition, while his suspension came almost 8 month later, August 18th 2011, to be precise. However, I agree it was unethical for him to take such issues to the media.

The President of the Court of Appeal had, in an interview in Thisday edition of Tuesday January 25, 2011, disclosed that he’d used only those he trusted for governorship election appeal cases. In his response to Senator Iyiola

http://africanheraldexpress.com/blog6/2011/02/27/2007-elections-judgments-njc-queries-justice-salami-again/
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/08/18/nigeria-suspends-top-judge/

On the second question, here's the interview Justice Auta granted some weeks back(BTW it was NTA, not channels):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwZTNkgfCw

alezzy13:


Just saw this.

Well, from what I could gather, Salami granted interview before his suspension. The interview was allegedly published by Thisday in its JAn 25th 2011 edition, while his suspension came almost 8 month later, August 18th 2011, to be precise. However, I agree it was unethical for him to take such issues to the media.


http://africanheraldexpress.com/blog6/2011/02/27/2007-elections-judgments-njc-queries-justice-salami-again/
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/08/18/nigeria-suspends-top-judge/

On the second question, here's the interview Justice Auta granted some weeks back(BTW it was NTA, not channels):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwZTNkgfCw

brilliant.thnx