The Presidential Advisory Committee against corruption (PACAC) on Thursday decried that the Nigerian judiciary is being confronted with the problem of bias and corruption among judges.
Itse Sagay, Chairman of the committe speaking at a roundtable meeting themed ‘Jury Trials in Nigeria and the Review of proposed Jury Service Bill’, said a good number of Nigerian judges are corrupt and partial which affects negatively judgement passed in courts.
Sagay said as part of efforts to address the trend which is described as absurd and perversed, the presidency is advocating for the passage of the Jury Service Bill to establish a jury system with jury courts in Nigeria after it was first abolished in Lagos in the 1970s.
He said, “Quite a number of judges are either corrupt and would therefore ignore the evidences or they are biased in the sense that they may have an esprit de corp with the person under trial particularly or are simply out of tune with feelings and standards and conducts of the ordinary man because they re so elitist.
“There was an instance of a person under trial who paid N30 million into a judges’ wife account and bought a car for his son. But when the judge was being tried by another judge he denied it, this is absurd.
“This convinces me that we need a body of objective people, ordinary Nigerians to access the facts, listen to the argument and listen to the witnesses and then come to the conclusion of guilt or innocence. We cannot rely on a single man who is bias or has private relationship which can influence him to take the wrong decision”.
The chairman, senate committe on Anti-corruption and financial crimes, Suleiman Abdu Kwari in his keynote address said the establishment of a jury court will go a long way in assisting the present administration in its quest in fighting corruption and other criminal offences and ensure that citizens play a vital role in the criminal justice system.
According to Kwari, jury trials will also strengthen citizen’s confidence in the judiciary and the fight against corruption, nd encourage honesty and patriotism mong others.
The chairman further assured that the National Assembly will do everything possible to see the smooth passage of the bill.
Godsgift Onyedinefu, Abuja
