The newly appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Alooma Mukhtar said on Wednesday that there was corruption in the judiciary and pledged to get rid of the systems bad eggs.
Being the first female to be appointed as the CJN, Justice Mukhtar assured the senate that there will be “internal cleansing” to shore up the image of the third arm of government.
She added that “Corruption is in every system of our society and I cannot pretend that it is not in the judiciary. What I intend to do to curb this is to lead by example and to hope and pray that others will follow.
“As the chairman of the National Judicial Council, I will encourage internal cleansing based on petition.”
Justice Mukhtar admitted that the confidence in the nation’s justice system was at its lowest ebb.
“As I said I will try to make sure that the confidence reposed in the judiciary as it were before will be restored. I will try as much as possible to ensure that the bad eggs that are there … that there will be cleansing by the NJC based on petitions.
“It is sad that the ordinary man in the street now thinks and feels that he will not get justice and this is because of the situation we find ourselves. I will ensure that this perception is changed.”
Justice Mukhtar spoke on the concept of plea bargaining which has become an issue in the fight against corruption, saying that there was nothing wrong with the option, provided that it was done in good faith and properly.
She also spoke on terrorism calling on the the National Assembly to immediately put the law in place to curtail the increasing cases of terrorism. She promised that the judiciary would activate the law once it was enacted.
According to her, the court might be idle since terrorism was not an offence committed on a daily basis.
She therefore recommended that a single judge could be designated within a court to hear terrorism cases, “or at least three judges in a division, instead of an outright separate court.”
“I think this depends on what is before the judge. If the judge finds that there is nothing that should warrant remand of a person accused of terrorism, he will be at liberty to release him on bail.
“But then, I think I will take steps so that we partner effectively with the authority to ensure that unnecessary granting of bail is limited.”
On the controversies surrounding declaration of assets by public officers, the new CJN said that the declaration of assets every four years as required by extant law was sufficient, but doubted if it could be extended to private concerns since it was not provided for in the nation’s constitution.
