The Judiciary and the Corruption Fighting Paradox

If we all are not above the law, who brings the ‘upholders’ of the law to book when they err?

The Department of State Services (DSS) recently conducted a raid on some allegedly corrupt judges, and the reactions have been quite sensational.

Why did we choose to sensationalize such an issue? Do we benefit from the corruption in any way? The most alarming of them all is the demand for an unconditional release of the judges by the NBA and SERAP. Some have also called the raid unconstitutional, claiming the DSS should have handed over its findings to the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission).

At this point, I’d like to say that the entire approach to ‘fighting corruption’ has been faulty. This is what the entire operation of the EFCC seems to me right now; turn a blind eye to the looting, misuse and mismanagement of funds and office, then start chasing after them when they’re out of office. What happened to the entire period the looters were in office? They obviously do not start living above their means when they’re out of office. So why the wild goose chase? This ‘police and thief’ method would have been pardonable at the initial institution of the EFCC. But it is expected that the EFCC would have outgrown all that by now.

So now, back to the corrupt judges. Allegations of corruption within the judiciary did not start in 2016, it has always been there. But the punishment meted out to such corrupt judges has mostly been forceful retirement — which obviously does not help fight any form of corruption, they will rather look forward to that time of forceful retirement. So what are we saying here?

While I am not in support of bashful operations, saying that the operation of the DSS is unconstitutional is wrong. Firstly, they had the necessary search and arrest warrants to carry out their operation. Secondly, I don’t think the DSS usurped the role of the EFCC, since their role borders on treasonable crime as stated by National Security Agencies Act (Section 3).

Perhaps, we should define treason here.

Definition according to WordWeb.

1. A crime that undermines the offender’s government,

2. Disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior

3. An act of deliberate betrayal

Judges are bound by an oath, and going against it is a deliberate act of betrayal! A betrayal of the body they represent, a betrayal of justice, a betrayal of the people’s trust, a betrayal of their constituted role and authority, a betrayal of the Government they serve and defend.

Is the DSS still acting within its role? I don’t know, the constitution was probably written in Greek.

Let me make it clear that all I care for is that corrupt officials be brought to book. Who does so is not my business; so far as they operate within their constituted authority and the rule of law.

Now to my fellow citizens, we complain about corruption, and the fact that prosecutions have not been made. Who should do the prosecution when the judges are corrupt? In fact the NBA is an embarrassment for demanding the unconditional release of the judges. Shows how deep the corruption has eaten into the system.

Defend their corruption all you want, but remember, it won’t benefit you in anyway. It is rather to your detriment. If the judiciary is not cleansed, then there’s practically no other sector that can be fixed. After all, we run a democracy — it all ends up at the court!