Re Is The Supreme Court Really Impartial?
In the recent past, several critics have hauled invectives on the judiciary for one reason or the other, often with winks of approval from the masses. Of all the criticism I have read, I am of the opinion that that piece by Mr. I. S. Moses published on page 47 of Thisday edition of Tuesday, May 06, 2003 was the most brazen assault yet on the integrity of our judicature. Let me say this, that the author being a Nigerian has his unfettered and constitutional right of self-expression and of opinion. As a legal practitioner, one may conclude that I am only paying lip service to the matter on account of my professional alliances. Nothing could be farther form the truth, as yours truly could still have taken my stance even if I was a priest. The axiom that “some things are better not said where the effect is to destroy rather than protect the community” is of an entirely African origin.
The picture that the author painted –or shall we say, attempted to paint- of our judicial officers at the apex court was rather unflattering to say the least. When we harp on this aspect of our nationhood- a dearth of patriots who can put in their all for the sake of the nation, it is not for nothing. When we frown on Nigerians who see nothing good in the ensuing political equation, it is not that we are saying that we are saints. All that the patriots amongst us are saying is that such an article could not have been celebrated in the United States or even in the United Kingdom. Here you see journalists fall over themselves to scoop dirty headlines about the country and her people just to make super sales. True our country is still in search of qualitative leadership in all strata of government- including the judiciary. It’s also true that we as a people have often been found wanting when matters of ethnic and religious bearings are discussed. However, in all of these disputes, our judicial officers, beside a few reported cases of judicial rascality, at every level, have on the whole been performing creditably. The judiciary remains the last bastion of defence for the common man. Every act of aggression targeted at the judiciary must necessarily fail in the long run for the simple reason that even the most ruthless of dictators in history never contemplated the dismantling of judicial structures from the polity.
The caliber of justices who have served in the supreme court of Nigeria lends more than sufficient impetus to the credibility of that institution. Men like Sir Udoma- a former Chief Justice and Governor-General of Uganda-
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