Law News
Senior Lawyers Condemned NBS Rating of Judges as Most Corrupt

Some Senior lawyers have condemned Wednesday National Bureau of Statistics NBS survey on corruption that rated judges and policemen as the most corrupt in the country .

The senior lawyers, Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN) and Mr. Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume (SAN), also argued that there was no scientific proof and data by the NBS to back up its claim, saying that it was obvious that the NBS is looking for relevance. The legal practitioners spoke during separate interviews with our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday. Akintola further dismissed the NBS survey report as outlandish and without any bases saying that the survey was devoid of any scientific basis.

He said, ” I am not surprised , because people and institutions seeking relevant nowadays cooked up all sort of reports to malign the judiciary. How many judges are in the court ? They are not more than 1,500 judges in a country that has over 170 million people.

Then what scientific basis ,data, does the NBS used in arriving at such outlandish conclusion that judges are most corrupt in the country. “NBS survey is not backed by any scientific proof and no importance should be attached to it because the report was meant to further drag the reputation of Judges into disrepute, he added.

Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume (SAN) also condemned NBS survey report as bereft of evidences. He said that bribe taking and corruption are vices everybody abhorred and we are fighting against it. He said, ” It is most unfortunate that National Bureau of Statistics chose to heap the blame on judges. What evidence have they produced to justify that judges are the most corrupt in the country.

The anti- graft agencies:Nigeria Police, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which have been charged with investigation have unearthed huge sum of money illegally acquired. How much of these huge sum has been traced to judges that they now tagged the most corrupt in the country.

“Fine, they arrested seven judges last October in sting operations and found an insignificant sum of monies in their houses. Those sum of monies have not been prove to be stolen or bribe from anybody or institutions yet. But judges and judiciary continued to receive bashing from unexpected quarters because some people in the corridors of power erroneously believed judges are obstructing the fight against corruption.

This is not true. “The truth is that the government has not produce evidence to substantiate corruption allegation against any one and the person so accused is set free by judges. So, they should be advised to concentrate on diligent investigation and prosecution rather than arm twisting the judges.

Andrew Orolua
The Daily Time News