The contentious drama displayed at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on the 5th of November is yet another expensive embarrassment to the Nigerian judicial edifice. Seeing a set of lawyers led by three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) walked out on a presiding judge is completely strange to us, as citizens. Although court sessions have always been an intellectual war-ground for legal practitioners, but it never seemed to have turned out this way where decorum is discarded, and rascality usurps the legal stage. The intellectual manner at which cases are argued at courts of all jurisdictions makes the legal profession a super-endearing one among others.
It is disheartening to note that we have found ourselves at a junction where citizens can no longer distinguish between true advocates of justice and judicial exploiters!
In the recent time, it would be recalled that the CCT had a pause on the trial of the Senate President, awaiting the decision of the Appeal Court, which later on 30 Oct 2015 affirmed the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to try Senator Saraki. Before the tribunal would resume back on Nov 6 nonetheless, Saraki had already filed another application for stay of proceedings before the Supreme Court, urging her to halt the proceedings of the CCT pending the time his appeal would be finally determined by the apex court.
In a situation whereby Saraki had, before the Supreme Court, already challenged that the Appeal Court equally erred by affirming the legality of the proceedings of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, relying strongly on the argument that the CCT sat with only two members instead of three (a process he established as contravention of the provision of Paragraph 15 (1) of the Fifth Schedule of the Nigerian Constitution), one would expect that the CCT would accord the Supreme Court similar honour it accorded the Appeal Court on the case.
Surprisingly on Thursday, the Umar Danladi-led Tribunal refused to embrace neither any antecedent nor tradition as the Tribunal insisted that the trial must continue, regardless of the appeal at the Supreme Court. This blatant contradiction can never be said unbiased, obviously, especially when the match-out of the Saraki legal team already received some validations by the prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), who said: “they have rights to do what they did.”
With a sincere appraisal of how Justice Danladi has, from the beginning, appeared desperate and opinionated on Saraki’s trial, plus how the initial Appeal judgement was allegedly arrested on October 19 before the eventual pronouncement on 30th of the same month, there’s no atom of doubt in the speculations that Saraki has fallen a victim of dubious process of justice. With the way things are moving in fact, it doesn’t look like the maxim of law that “every person remains innocent until proven guilty” is further welcome in the CCT/Saraki scenario. In as much as no one would seek that the CCT truncates the case notwithstanding, it is logical enough that Saraki should be allowed to enjoy his legal rights to the fullest.
Leaving Saraki out of the argument however, the public fracas between the ministers in the temple of ‘justice’ and the custodian of the same ‘justice’ is seriously bothering. It’s a daylight impunity how the CCT turned down the argument of the defence team, challenging the Tribunal and the federal government on the ill decision of daring and prejudicing the Supreme Court on the pending appeal case of the Senate President.
In summary of the whole game, what is deducible is that the on-going battle of superiority in the political realm has gotten itself translocated to the judiciary. As a diplomatic nation, the federal government has pivotal roles to play in ensuring that justice is not subverted. Most particularly, President Muhammadu Buahri’s administration needs to re-assure us that our democracy has not been subverted for tyranny.
Adebayo Smith writes from Lagos State.