In what appears a move aimed at shielding judges from frivolous complaints, the National Judicial Council (NJC) has introduced stringent conditions for complaints.
Under “the 2014 Revised Judicial Discipline Regulations of the National Judicial Council (NJC)” recently released by the nation’s apex judicial sector regulatory agency, anybody, who wishes to complain against the conduct of any judge must do so within six months, such a complaint/petition will not be treated.
Any extension of time will be at the discretion of either the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN),who is the NJC Chairman or the Council itself.
The new regulation also requires a complainant/petitioner to accompany his petition/complaint with a verifying affidavit deposed to before a Court of Record.
The NJC, in a statement, drew the attention of the public to its new stance to the effect that only complaints/petitions that comply with Rues 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the new regulation will be treated.
Rule 4 sets time limit within which a petition/complaint could be filed; Rule 5 subjects any extension of time to the discretion of the CJN; Rule 6 deals with the consequences of failure to meet the time limit, which is dismissal. Rule 7 provides for the format in which a complaint/petition must be submitted, failing which it shall not be attended to.
A copy of the 2014 Revised Regulations, obtained by The Nation, states in Rule 4(1) that: “A complaint must be made within six months of the event or matter complained of, provided a complaint relating to a continuing state of affairs may be made at any time while the state of affairs continues or within six months from when it ends.”
4(2) provides that “Subject to Regulation 5, a complaint made outside the time limit set in Paragraph 1 must be dismissed by the Council upon report to the Council by the Secretary to the Council.”
Rule 5(1) states that “The Chief Justice of Nigeria/Chairman of Council may extend a time limit under these regulations, whether or not the time limit has expired, where there is good reason to do so.”
In 5(2), it states that “A person, who is refused an extension of time limit under Paragraph 1, may make a representation to the Chief Justice/Chairman of Council, asking the Chairman, within 14 working days of being notified of the refusal, asking him/her to refer the request for an extension of time to the Council.”
Rule 7(5)(A) states that: “A complaint must be signed by the complainant and accompanied by a verifying affidavit deposed to by the complainant before a Court of Record.”
The new provisions mark a clear departure from what existed before now where there were no major restrictions on how complaints/petitions against judges could and should be made.
Although a senior member of the NJC has said the intention was to discourage frivolous petitions, many are however worried that the NJC would seek to discourage petitions against judges by introducing such stringent procedure when the Judiciary is generally believed to be hampered by widespread corruption.
Many have also seen the new regulations as a departure from the pledge by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN, Justice Mahmud Mohammed to sustain efforts to rid the Judiciary of bad eggs.
The CJN had, in the past, expressed discomfort about the level of corruption in the Judiciary.
Justice Mohammed, on June 24 in Abuja, at a conference on “The fight against corruption: The way forward” organised by the Anti-corruption Commission of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), regretted the level of corrupt practices in the legal profession and disclosed that about 64 judges were disciplined.
Although, Justice Mohammed had, on assuming office on November 20, 2014, pledged to sustain his predecessor’s initiated reforms, there is no report yet that any erring judge has been sanctioned since he took office.
The over 64 sanctioned judges the CJN referred to in his June 24 speech were those penalised under previous CJNs.
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