By Alex Enumah in Abuja
The National Judicial Council (NJC)
yesterday dismissed a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crimes (UNODC) in conjunction with the National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS) ranking the judiciary as the second highest receiver of bribes in
the country.
The NJC which described the report as
untrue, baseless, unfounded and a figment of the imagination of the two
agencies, wondered the parameters used by them in reaching their
conclusions.
The statement which was signed by the
NJC’s Director of Information, Soji Oye, lamented that allegation was
coming at a time when the current leadership of the judiciary was making
frantic effort to bring desired reforms in the justice sector.
“The attention of the Nigerian judiciary
has been drawn to the report of UNODC, in conjunction with the NBS
titled, ‘Corruption in Nigeria; Bribery: public experience and response –
2017; alleging that the judiciary is the second highest receiver of
bribes in the country.
“The judiciary finds the conclusion of the organisations not only subjective but speculative.
“There is no denying the fact that there
are few bad eggs in the judiciary, like in every other arm of
government; at the same time, there are many honest and hardworking
judicial officers and magistrates making the kudiciary and the country
proud,” the statement read in part.
The NJC stated that what should agitate
the minds of the people was the criteria used by the UNODC and NBS to
measure the level of bribe taking in the judiciary to grade it as the
second largest receiver of bribes.
“For instance, what is the percentage of
judges caught receiving bribe out of a total number of 1,059 judges in
both the federal and state judiciaries?
“What is the percentage of magistrates caught taking bribe from an estimated total number of 4,000 in the country?
“How many judges or magistrates have
been arrested and/or prosecuted and convicted of corruption till date to
deduce such conclusions?,” the NJC demanded to know.
While still at a loss as to how the
agencies arrived at their conclusions, the statement claimed that the
judiciary was the only arm of government that has been investigating its
judicial officers and dealt appropriately with those found guilty by
dismissal or removal from office.
NJC added: “Members of the public are
also aware that the NJC has been recommending judges found guilty of
corrupt practices to the appropriate security agencies for prosecution.
“It is unfortunate that this
orchestrated allegation is coming at a time the current Chief Justice of
Nigeria and Chairman of the NJC, Justice Walter Samnuel Onnoghen is
making frantic efforts to stamp out corruption, restructure the
judiciary and also give the Nigerian legal system a new lease of life
for the rule of law to take its firm roots in the country.
“The judiciary calls on the general
public to disregard the afore-stated allegation as it is untrue,
baseless, unfounded and a figment of the agencies’ imagination.
“The NJC as usual calls on members of
the public to forward written petitions against any judicial officer
found soliciting or receiving bribes or otherwise engaging in conducts
unbecoming of a judicial officer to the NJC for appropriate action.”
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