Lawyer and former Chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chidi Odinkalu, has responded to the Director of Information and Public Relations at the Supreme Court, Festus Akande, over the latter’s defence of Justice Emmanuel Agim’s attendance at the special convocation ceremony held on March 22 to mark the 50th anniversary of the University of Calabar.
Recall that Justice Agim has been facing allegations of ethical breaches following his public appearance alongside Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, at the University of Calabar convocation.
Many had expressed concerns over the perceived close relationship between Justice Agim and Wike, whom they described as the political godfather of the 27 Rivers State lawmakers, who recently benefited from a Supreme Court judgment delivered by Justice Agim.
Reacting to the Supreme Court defence, Odinkalu said in a statement yesterday: “In terms of Nigeria’s constitution, the source of democratic legitimacy resides in the people alone. To leave Festus Akande’s claims uncontested or without a response, therefore, is to diminish the high authority of the Supreme Court, the service of the distinguished men and women, who have laboured to give it its historically high standing in the public imagination until recently, and the high principles of judicial independence and democracy instituted for the protection of the peoples of Nigeria.
“This statement is issued out of concern to stem the heedless hemorrhaging of the rarefied authority of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. In this spirit, it is essential to set the records straight.”
He argued that the fact that Festus Akande considered it essential to issue the statement itself showed that something was wrong with that event in Calabar, noting that the event in Calabar was rich with pictures to support suspicions of improper interference with the cause of justice.
According to him, the Rule 2.8 of the Revised Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers in Nigeria (2016) is very clear: “A judge shall avoid developing excessively close relationship with frequent litigants – such as government ministers or their officials, municipal officials, police prosecutors in any court, where the judge often sits, if such relationship could reasonably create an appearance of partiality.”
Quoting Justice Niki Tobi of the Supreme Court in Buhari vs. Independent National Electoral Commission & Ors (2008) LPELR-814(SC) at PP.145-146, he said the justice admonished judges to “maintain a very big distance from politics and politicians” warning that “the two professions do not meet and will never meet at all in our democracy in the discharge of their functions.”
SIMILARLY, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, dismissed the Supreme Court’s defence of Justice Agim’s presence at the event, describing it as a panicked and baseless response.
HURIWA argued that photographic evidence of Justice Agim and Wike seated together in a cosy manner at the event had fueled public suspicions of bias.
The group asserted that the justice’s presence at the ceremony, where he was honoured with an honorary doctorate, raised ethical questions, particularly given his recent ruling on a case linked to Wike’s political allies.