Retiring justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court, Justice Muhammad Dattijo, has berated his colleagues for destroying the image of the Judiciary by revelling in bribery and corruption.
At a farewell ceremony organised in his honour by the Supreme Court in Abuja on Friday, Dattijo, who retired on October 27 as he clocked 70, decried the tragic turn of events at the apex court, noting that the current Judiciary he is exiting from is far from the one he voluntarily joined and desired to serve and be identified with.
According to him, the Judiciary has become a body chocked by bribery and perversion of justice because many of those on the court have no clear understanding of what it meant to deliver justice to the Nigerian people.
Justice Dattijo said, Public perceptions of the judiciary have over the years become witheringly scornful and monstrously critical. It has been in the public space that court officials and judges are easily bribed by litigants to obviate delays and or obtain favourable judgements.
Justice Muhammad, who spent 47 years in active judicial service, bowed out of the apex court bench on Friday. He used the opportunity of a valedictory session to address what he observed as rots in the judiciary that have continued to affect the justice delivery system in the country.
According to him, the Judiciary, as presently structured, gave so much powers to the CJN who he said usually takes decisions without consulting other justices.
As presently structured, the CJN is Chairman of the NJC which oversees both the appointment and discipline of judges, he is equally Chair of the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), the National Judicial Institute (NJI), and the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) that appoints Senior Advocate of Nigeria. In my considered opinion, the oversight functions of these bodies should not rest on an individual alone, he stated.
On the current composition of the bench of the apex court, Justice Muhammad alleged that the refusal to fill the vacant slot of the South-East geo-political zone on the apex court bench was deliberate, blaming it on absolute powers vested in the office of the CJN.
He further stressed that with his retirement, the North-Central zone which he represented would no longer have a Justice on the Supreme Court bench.
On the issue of membership of the panel that heard the presidential election appeals by candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party, (LP), Peter Obi, Justice Muhammad, said in order to ensure justice and transparency in presidential appeals from the lower court, all geo-political zones are required to participate in the hearing.
It is therefore dangerous for democracy and equity for two entire regions to be left out in the decisions that will affect the generality of Nigerians. This is not what our laws envisage”, he emphasised.
He noted that it was owing to allegations of corruption and perversion of justice that informed President Muhammadu Buharis decision to order the invasion of homes and arrest of some judges in 2016.
Dattijo indicated he was not the only justice with an unflattering review of the judiciary while on the way out, citing a similar observation made by a former justice of the Court of Appeal, Oludotun Adefope-Okojie, who retired in May 2023 at 70.
