NJC replies NBA, says suspending accused judges without probe is unconstitutional 

The National Judicial Council (NJC) on Friday said asking the judges accused of corruption to recuse or proceed on compulsory leave without probe would mean violation of section 158 of the constitution.

NJC stated this in response to the suggestion made on Thursday by the President of Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN).

Mahmoud had suggested that the serving judges who were among the seven arrested by the Department of State Security (DSS) between October 8 and 9, to either recuse themselves from further judicial functions or proceed on compulsory leave until they are proven innocence.

But the NJC in a statement by its Acting Director, Information, Soji Oye, said it had no powers to suspend serving judges without properly investigating the petition accusing them of some acts of misconduct.

According to him, lawyers who were part of the members of the NJC joined in the emergency meeting of the NJC where the raid on the houses of and the arrest of judges were condemned.

According to the NJC, “‎the current position of the Nigerian Bar Association vis-à-vis its recommendation that the affected judicial officers involved in the on-going investigation of Judicial Officers by the DSS, be requested to proceed on compulsory leave until the conclusion of all disciplinary proceedings against them, is unacceptable to the NJC; as it breaches the 2014 Revised Judicial Discipline Regulations formulated by NJC pursuant to Section 160 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.

Read also: NBA wants accused judges to step aside until after investigations

“It is to be reiterated also that by the provisions of Section 158 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, NJC shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other authority or person while exercising its disciplinary power of control over Judicial Officers in the Federation.

“The members of the public are hereby informed that the mechanism that will determine a judicial officer to be directed or requested to proceed on compulsory leave or be suspended from office, is a disciplinary power that NJC can only exercise after initiating disciplinary proceeding on the complaint or petition forwarded against the Judge, after he has been found culpable.

“Therefore, to act on the recommendation of the NBA, it is not only contrary to the provisions of Section 158 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, but it means NJC will direct any judicial officer that has been petitioned even if the allegations contained therein are frivolous and baseless, to proceed on compulsory leave or be suspended from office without complying with the rule of law.”

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