By Deborah Coker
The Former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Edo, Henry Idahagbon, says reviewing the process of appointment of Judges in the country will help strengthen the judicial sector.
Idahagbon, now the Federal Commissioner representing Edo, Ekiti and Ondo States at the Federal Civil Service Commission, said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Abuja on Monday.
He said that a country gets the judiciary that it deserves, adding that the judges and those that make up the nation’s judiciary were Nigerians and not imported.
He also said that the judiciary could not be more developed than the state of development of the country.
‘’A country gets the kind of judiciary it deserves. The judges and those that make up the judiciary are Nigerians, they are not imported.
‘’The judiciary cannot be more developed than the state of development of the country. So, our judicial involvement is commensurate with our political involvement.
‘’But kudos must be given to President, Bola Tinubu, because he has given a lot to enhance judicial independence in Nigeria.
‘’Now, judiciary gets its allocation directly, not interfered with by governors and by the president at the national level.
“So, with direct allocation to the judiciary, they get financial independence,’’ Idahagbon said.
The federal commissioner noted that the reforms and judicial independence going on in the judicial sector could be seen in the appointment of judges.
He explained that 38 judges were to be appointed into the federal Courts in Abuja, adding that after their particulars were published but many of them were disqualified.
He added, ‘’Many of those who applied were disqualified on the ground that they failed the integrity test, and that is very important, because anybody who must sit on the bench must have some level of integrity.”
Idahagbon, who also spoke on deciding election cases before inauguration of winners, said that the present system was also a symptom and reflection of the state of development of the elections.
‘’To me, it is neither here nor there, because we are seeing people sworn in, and the election petition removes them from office.
‘’Osunbor was kicked out of office as Governor of Edo by an election petition, so, it is very well possible, if you have a good case and you can prove that the process for losing the election is not in accordance with the electoral laws, you can overturn whoever has been declared the winner.
‘’So, whether or not the person is sworn in, for me, it is neither here nor there,’’ he said.
He,however, said that though the process of deciding electoral cases was slow in the country, it was so largely because everything was still being done manually.
According to Idahagbon, in some states, some courts especially federal high courts are adopting verbatim recorders now.
He added, ‘’But let me tell you, anywhere in the world, the judicial process is slow. Even in the UK, and in the US. It is the same thing in America.
‘’ It is slow because it is a specialised profession. The medical profession, the legal profession, they are specialised professions.
‘’So the judicial process is necessarily slow, but it is a bit slower in our country because we have refused to embrace technology
‘’The judicial process necessarily is not something that you can produce in a factory. You can’t produce court judgments, court proceedings, like the way a factory produces products and that is because a lot of interest is involved.
‘’It is forensic science. Human beings are involved. The judge has to be thorough; he has to take evidence research, read before he can come to a conclusion, which we call a judgement.’’
Idahagbon added that however in many developed countries, election matters don’t go to election petitions as people accepted the results once the process was fair and transparent.
(NAN)