NBA leaders know all corrupt judges –Falana





Mr. Femi Falana SAN and Human right activist speaks on his disagreement with the Nigerian Bar Association on the recent arrest of judges by the Department of State Services, allegations of corruption in the judiciary and other issues, in this interview with GBENRO ADEOYE

It appears that you have created more enemies for yourself in the NBA and the legal profession as a whole with your recent statements; don’t you feel bothered by that?

I have always had enemies in the legal profession. I am not bothered because some of the NBA leaders are not defending judges but themselves. When I was working with the late Comrade Alao Aka-Bashorun, who is rated as the best NBA president so far, the NBA did not address press conferences to declare a state of emergency, whatever that means. If judges were harassed or lawyers were detained, the NBA leaders would meet the Attorney-General or President of a country to find out the basis of any arrest. Aka-Bashorun did that in Nigeria, Togo and Ghana. In 1987, Aka-Bashorun mobilised 270 lawyers to defend the late Gani Fawehinmi. He was fighting a very corrupt military junta. When the same military dictators later charged some of us with treasonable felony, the NBA also defended us.

The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal have stated very explicitly that no judge has the power to turn any citizen into an outlaw in any civilised society, where the rule of law operates. Whenever judges were accused of corruption in the recent past, senior lawyers had rushed to court to secure court injunctions to frustrate the investigation and prosecution of the suspects. Neither the National Judicial Council nor the Nigerian Bar Association has ever called the judges and lawyers involved in the illegality to order. Sometime in 2011, it was alleged that the head of the National Judicial Institute was involved in N6bn fraud. He was politely invited for questioning by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, but the then sitting Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the Institute asked him to ignore the invitation. The suspect did and thereafter, he secured an injunction at a Federal High Court to halt the investigation. As if that was not enough, he collated the names of 18 employees of the institute and sacked them because he suspected that they had exposed the fraud to the ICPC. The sacked employees cried to the National Judicial Council and the Nigerian Bar Association for redress. They were ignored. They ran to my office and I had to file a suit praying the Federal High Court to set aside their illegal dismissal. We are currently pursuing the matter on pro bono basis. On another occasion, a judge in a Federal High Court was invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to explain the source of N2bn found in her account. She rushed to court and obtained an order which has restrained the EFCC from investigating and prosecuting her. Can you believe that the order was granted by one of the judges being investigated by the Department of State Services? There is also the case of a chief judge, who used the public presentation of a book to raise money from members of the public, including litigants. At the ceremony, a businessman, who had two cases before the chief judge, announced a donation of N10m. A poor man, who had a case against the donor before the chief judge, asked his lawyer to apply for the transfer of his case to another judge. The lawyer made the application. The chief judge ordered the lawyer’s arrest. After the NBA refused to intervene to prevent the lawyer’s arrest, he had to turn to me. I took up his matter, approached a Federal High Court, which prohibited the police from carrying out the illegal order of the chief judge. His Lordship was allowed by the NBA to intimidate the lawyer. The NJC cleared the chief judge but the matter was revisited when the chief judge ignored the advice of the NJC to transfer the cases to another judge. Based on the act of misconduct and other allegations of corruption, the chief judge has been removed. He was also arrested last week.
Check out www.askvogue.com for event vendors in Nigeria according to your budget and location.