•says NJC doesn’t have power to try criminal cases
•insists NJC’s silence on cash found in suspects’ home worrisome

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

A top-ranking Nigerian lawyer has respectfully disagreed with the National Judicial Council that it has the overriding powers to try all matters relating to the conduct of judges in the country.

The respected legal practitioner, Mr. Benbella Anachebe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, in a series of posts on the Nigerian Bar Association Elders’ blog, said that it was wrong for the NJC to assume the jurisdiction for both civil and criminal matters involving judges.

According to the lawyer, the Nigerian Constitution did not make such omnibus provisions for the NJC and it cannot exercise any authority not given to it by law.

Anachebe also took a swipe at the NJC for not speaking out on the huge cash recovered from the residences of the arrested judges, but lashing out at the Department of State Security Service, DSS, for raiding the homes of the judges.

“I am yet to find any provision of the Constitution empowering National Judiciary Council, NJC, to investigate or deal with criminal infraction by Judges.

“All I can find is that by section 21 (g) of the 3rd Schedule to the Constitution (made pursuant to section 153 thereof), even the disciplinary powers of NJC are limited to “members and staff” of the Council. I am not sure any of the arrested Judges is a member of the NJC.

But even at that, with the general powers vested in NJC to exercise “disciplinary control” over Judges, vide section 21(b) & (d) of the same 3rd schedule, I doubt if we can seriously/sincerely contend that Judges aren’t subject to the same criminal justice system as all of us; moreso given that “supremacy of the Law” and “equality of all before the Law” are settled tenets of Rule of Law and Democracy.

“I am sure there are institutions specifically empowered by our Constitution, to handle our criminal justice issues and I would be glad to know if NJC is one of them more so when I can’t find the role of NJC in ACJA 2015. I hope our democracy is not DEMOCRAZY. I am just thinking aloud. May God bless Nigeria.

“I am even more alarmed that the NJC did not even attempt to profer any comment or even a mere denial of the alleged mind-boggling discoveries made during the DSS search on some Judges houses. Why not? But the same NJC readily inferred corruption and indicted one Justice Pindiga of Kano who was alleged to have amassed lesser properties, while it seemed to turn a blind eye on the large statch of cash made in the course of executing lawful search warrants, issued by the Magistracy….not even an attempt to dispute the authenticity of the alleged warrant.

“The reason that there are no petitions pending against the ‘big’ Justices does not sound impressive of a supposedly impartial and incorruptible body. While we would like to protect our Judges, it is important that we call a spade a spade because that is the essence of our learned status.

“To all intent and purposes, the NJC cannot in one breath claim to support the war against corruption and yet fail to comment on the mind boggling cash allegedly discovered by DSS from the homes of the judges except to say that there are no petitions pending against the arrested Judges

“The Nigerian public and the world are reading us and our technicalities particularly, on the powers of the NJC in the Constitution; moreso as the NJC Rules cannot override specific provisions of the Constitution which vest criminal jurisdiction in other agencies of government.