The Nigerian Judiciary: The Lost Hope Of The Common Man
By Chief Malcolm Emokiniovo Omirhobo .
LAGOS OCTOBER 29TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Learned gentlemen of the legal profession both at the bar and bench , today the 27th day of October, 2021 my faith in the Nigerian judiciary was shaken to its foundation . Today my high hopes that the Nigerian judiciary is the last hope of the common man was shattered but nonetheless , I thank my creator that I managed to retain my sanity to enable me remain undistracted , resolute and undaunted in my quest to seek justice for all . I am not just making sweeping statements but I stand on solid facts which I can substantiate and that can be verified by anybody.
Today, I had five public interest cases scheduled to come up for hearing . Four at the Federal High Court, Lagos before a judge and one at the Delta State High Court, Ughelli judicial division .
The first case, suit No FHC/ L/CS/ 3/2020 between Chief Malcolm Omirhobo V Central Bank & 5 Ors is one in which the Arabic inscription on the Nigerian Naira Notes is being challenged as improper , illegal , unlawful and unconstitutional .
The second case, suit No FHC/L/CS/87/ 2021 between Chief Malcolm Omirhobo V. FGN & 10 Ors is for the enforcement of the fundamental right to life , dignity of persons , freedom of expression , peaceful Assembly and Association and right of Nigerians to own property against the FGN , the AG , Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, the NIMC, NCC , & 5 Or
The third case, suit No FHC/ L/CS/2/2020 – between Chief Malcolm Omirhobo V. Nig. Army & 5 Ors is one in which the Arabic inscription on the Nigerian Army Logo is been challenged as improper , illegal , unlawful and unconstitutional .
The fourth case, suit No FHC/L/CS/204/2020 between Chief Malcolm Omirhobo v IGP & 4 Ors is one for the enforcement of my fundamental right to freedom of expression, movement , peaceful assembly and association and those of the Nigerian public as it concerns the enough is enough protest in Lagos and Abuja .
The fifth case , suit No:UHC/109/2017- between Chief Malcolm Omirhobo V. The Delta State Government & 2 Ors is one for the enforcement of my fundamental right to freedom of movement and that of Deltans during monthly environmental sanitation exercise .
The status report on my fifth case is not encouraging as usual . It could not go on today on the ground that the NBA conference is on going in Port Harcourt , Rivers State and was consequently adjorned. As simple as this case is , my originating motion have been on for over four years and has not been determined by three different judges. It may interest you to note that I have not missed court for one day but that notwithstanding , the court have failed , refused and or neglected to adopt the written addresses of parties who are ready to go . Gentlemen these judges receives salary every month for doing nothing . Gentlemen how do you explain this ? Gentlemen tell me where is the hope of the common man in our country Nigeria where the court is shy , timorous and too scared to enforce the constitutional right of the citizens just because it does not want to offend the executive or legislative arm of government but would rather offend the principles of separation of powers and his oath of office ? Gentlemen if you ask me I will say that the hope of the common man in Nigeria is lost and that we need to find it before it is too late by leading the way .
The status report on my four other cases at the Federal High Court , Lagos State is that after the first case was called up and adjourned for definite hearing , the second case was called up but regrettably and unfortunately it ended up in a fiasco . The judge kept asking me if the third and fourth cases are related to the first and second cases in substance and I said no . I applied for the withdrawal of my motion exparte and motion on notice which has been over taken by event and my prayers was granted .
Since the NIMC and Minister of Communications were represented in court I prayed the court to order them to extend the dead line for the synchronization of the NIN of Nigerians with their SIM cards from the 30th day of October 2021 to a later date pending the determination of the suit but the court refused. My Lord, was of the opinion that if the Minister and NIMC refuses to extend the dead line on their own and it works injustice against Nigerians , the court can always undo the act but I made the court understand that this approach will work untold hardship and injustice on the public. I tried hard to persuade the court that we have ran to the court to seek refuge and protection and that it is has the powers to grant my application . I pressed further that the court is not only there to give remedy for a wrong or injury suffered but also there to pre-empt injury and prevent it by preserving the res of a case . At this point my Lord became hostile and took a swipe at my person educating me on how not to allow activism get into my head and all that . He could not contain his disdain for my guts to the extent that without taking into consideration the fact that parties in my third case were present in court barred me from appearing before him for the day .I without hesitation respectfully demanded to know what kind of proceedings is that ? He then proceeded to make a ruling that he was not going to hear my other two suits and they both stood adjourned . The judge boasted that I can go anywhere I want to report him and that if I like I can apply for him to recuse himself from handling all my case which are six in all .
At this point , I told the judge respectively that I no longer feel safe in his court and consequently applied that he recuse himself from all my cases pending before him which he did by transferring all of them to the administrative judge for reassignment . He threatened me and swear to jail me if I make any noise in his court . Thanks to members of the Bar present in court if not I may have been in the Ikoyi or Kirikiri correctional center by now . But to tell you the truth I am not scared of going to prison for a just cause . I did not alter a word because of the respect I have for the bench and legal profession, as my Lord boasted that if he hears one word from me , he will send me to jail . Knowing that my Lord , had ruled on my case and that I have no right of audience unless he allowed me , I bowed to his Lordship and left his presence to de-escalate the situation saying to myself if men were God .
Being treated like this by a judge is not new to me and with years of experience I have developed thick skin to insulate myself but what about the common man ? I am worried about him because he has no defence mechanism but to recline to faith . I have always known that once you file a case in Nigeria against the Federal Government and the Attorney General there is always one additional deadly invincible defendant to reckon with, hidden there like the hidden charges in a contact or the secret beam of a building .
That powerful defendant is no other person but the judge himself . So tell me Gentlemen where lies the hope of the common man ? Gentlemen verily , verily I dare say on to you that the hope of the common man in Nigeria is lost because the situation right now is that it is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the common man in Nigeria to get justice against the Nigerian Government. The judges descend to the arena and continue to antagonize you , frustrate your case by letting it to be overtaken by event or rendering it nugatory or an academic exercise . Imagine on the 26th day of October 2021 , I received a call from the court registrar asking to know if I will becoming to court the next day for my case since it has been overtaken by event and I said I will . I asked him who told him that my case has been overtaken by event and whether he is a lawyer . He said he is a lawyer and that he was just sounding out his opinion . I told him that I will becoming to court because none of my cases has been overtaken by event .
Now learned Gentlemen at the Bar and the Bench tell me where lies the hope of the common man, the weak, poor, vulnerable , illiterate and the uninformed Nigerians in the face of our timorous judiciary who are too scared to interpret the law , who pick and choose the case to hear and look at faces when administering justice , who are afraid of the executive arm of goverenment and cannot apply the simple principle of separation of powers ?
As the hand of the clock ticks slowly towards the 31st day of October 2021 , the Nigerian public are once again exposed to the callous , senseless , recklessness , whims and caprises of the executive . Who will protect them if not us by leading the way ?
We are watching .
Chief Malcolm Omirhobo, lawyer and human right activists writes from Lagos
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Posted by News Rangers
on Oct 29 2021. Filed under Features, National.
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