A group of civil society organisations has petitioned a United Nations body concerned with the independence of judges and lawyers over the dwindling public confidence in the Nigerian judiciary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe intervention of the United Nations in these matters is crucial to addressing potential threats to the judicial system in Nigeria and promoting the principles of justice and accountability,\u201d the executive director of TAP Initiative, Martin Obono, said in a statement issued on behalf of the network on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The groups said their petition, addressed to the Special Rapporteur on the Independence Of Judges and Lawyers, \u201chighlights concerns about the integrity of the Nigerian judiciary, specifically focusing on a series of incidents of judicial capture\u201d.<\/p>\n
The four civil society organisations behind the petition are Citizens Gavel, Hope Behind Bars, NULAI and TAP Initiative, which are collaborating under the aegis of the Open Justice Alliance.<\/p>\n
In the petition, the Open Justice Alliance expressed concern that the independence of the Nigerian judiciary may be threatened due to allegations of corruption, inducement, and harassment of the justices.
\nThe network called for an immediate investigation into the conduct of the judges involved, citing potential violations of the Revised Judicial Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2016.<\/p>\n
Specifically, it cited the recent case of dispute arising from the Kano State governorship election in which there was a remarkable disparity between the judgement read in the open court and what was contained in the certified true copy of the judgement subsequently released by the court.<\/p>\n
The court tried to explain it away as a clerical error, an explanation many have rejected as an afterthought.
\nThis and many developments in the judiciary, including concerns expressed by highly-placed insiders, have cumulatively dealt a huge blow to the dwindling integrity of the nation\u2019s judiciary with the public increasingly losing confidence in the institution.<\/p>\n
By Nigerian laws, only the National Judicial Council (NJC) has the exclusive powers to investigate acts of misconduct of Nigerian judges.
\nThe petitioners said what they sought through their petition was \u201cthe active involvement of the rapporteur in efforts aimed at enhancing judicial independence in Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our specific demands include an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the judgment of Honourable Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumein, Bitrus Gyarazama Sanga, and Lateef Adebayo Ganiyu, a recommendation and or appeal to the Judicial Services Commission for the Discipline of these Justices if found culpable of contravening the Revised Judicial Code of Conduct 2016 and the United Nations Basic Principles on the Independence of Judiciary 1985, and explicit transparency and accountability in the investigation process,\u201d stated Oluwafunke Adeoye, who is the founder of Hope Behind Bars Africa, a part of the Open Justice Alliance.<\/p>\n
Citing Article 22 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Open Justice Alliance reiterated the importance of a robust and independent judiciary in supporting Nigeria\u2019s nascent democracy.
\nIt urged the Special Rapporteur to intervene and defend the eroding independence of the Nigerian judiciary.<\/p>\n
In his contribution to the issue, Nelson Olanipekun, Citizens\u2019 Gavel\u2019s Team Lead, said
\n\u201cNigeria\u2019s nascent democracy relies heavily on the judiciary to foster its growth and uphold fundamental rights. A compromised judiciary poses a serious risk, potentially leading to citizen apathy and, ultimately, societal chaos, as citizens may feel their rights to elect leaders have been undermined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A group of civil society organisations has petitioned a United Nations body concerned with the independence of judges and lawyers over the dwindling public confidence in the Nigerian judiciary. \u201cThe intervention of the United Nations in these matters is crucial to addressing potential threats to the judicial system in Nigeria and promoting the principles of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":11479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11480,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11474\/revisions\/11480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}