J.S. Okutepa SAN Reacts To Letter By Supreme Court Justices To CJN
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, J.S Okutepa has reacted to a viral letter by 14 serving Justices of the Supreme Court to the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Mohammed complaining about the condition of service at the Apex court.
In the letter, the Justices lamented the challenges faced at the Apex Court ranging from accommodation to electricity, travel allowances etc.
In his reaction, Okutepa called for serious actions to be taken to address the unfortunate development in the country’s judiciary.
Okutepa said he believed the Justices took the action as the issues they penned down had become excruciating and unbearable.
He said: “Their lordships, I believe decided to document their complaints to the CJN, to demonstrate the degree of seriousness the matter has assumed.”
Going further, he expressed worry about the agony the Justices are subjected to in the course of delivering justice and wondered how quality justice can gotten in such situation.
“My main worry here is how these noble men and women of advanced age can be subjected to the agony they demonstrated in their letter and then we expect them to deliver justice in judgments.
Goats, said my dad do not bite unless pushed to extreme provocation and against the wall. I think their lordships have been pushed to the wall beyond the limit of elasticity of endurance.”
He referred to the ongoing case initiated by S.T. Hon SAN against relevant institutions of government to improve the renumeration of Judges as a glimpse of hope while lamenting the treatment being meted out to the Nigerian judiciary by other arms of government.
According to Okutepa, “Currently S. T. Hon SAN is in court to fight, for the relevant authorities to do their work by increasing the salaries and allowances of our judicial officers across board. Many of us Senior Advocates of Nigeria have joined him to fight this noble cause.”
He continued, “There is no dispute that Nigerian judiciary is not being fairly treated not only by the other arms of Government but by some of those who have the privilege to lead that arm of government. There is more we need to do as lawyers and Nigerians to see that the lots of Nigerian judiciary and judicial officers are bettered than we have now.”
He equally noted that Nigerian judges in the first place are human beings saying they judges take meagre salaries but they try causes and cases that involve billions of Dollars and Naira and are therefore prone to temptations in a bid to do their work.
He said: “We want corrupt free judiciary but we are not prepared to do what will insulate the judiciary from corruption.”
Further stressing the deplorable state of the judiciary in Nigeria, he said, “Judges have no good cars. When state governments acquired some substandard cars for these judiciary officers, they go to town to advertise it as achievements. Nigerian judiciary still writes in long hands. No good working environment. Some judges still climb bikes in some places. Some cars of these judges are so- rickety that they are like dead traps.”
He wrote that the letter by all the Justices of the Supreme Court to the Hon the Chief Justice of Nigeria should worry leaders of the Bar, noting,
“I just hope the Body of Senior Advocates and the leadership of NBA will not look at the letter as one of the usual things with Nigeria.”
While charging lawyers to collectively take steps to better the lot of Judges he said: “The efforts by S. T. Hon SAN and some of us in the court is good but we need to do more. Truth needs to be told and those who have denied the judicial officers of even the meagre they ought to get and they are not getting should be dealt with according to law.
We cannot pretend that all is well with our judiciary. Judiciary in Nigeria is sick. It is on life sport. It is lacking financial oxygen. Judicial officers are under serious and excruciating environmental unhygiene. That Itself has polluted the stream of justice. No man who is hungry can select the meals to eat. I have not seen the leadership of the legal profession doing want it ought to do.”
He concluded that if urgent steps are not taken to address the issues raised by the Supreme Court Justices which also affect Judges across the country, the country may slide into the state of nature where life is short, nasty and brutish as people would no longer solve their disputes through the judiciary.
