House Of Representatives Proposes Bill To Empower NBA In Tackling Corrupt Judges
The House of Representatives has advanced a bill aimed at amending the Nigerian Constitution to grant the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) the authority to receive petitions against corrupt judicial officers and assess their defense.
The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Provide for the Presumed Resignation from Office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justices, and Judges of Certain Courts in Nigeria and for Related Matters.” It was sponsored by Afam Ogene, the lawmaker representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency in Anambra State.
During Tuesday’s plenary session, the bill successfully passed its second reading as one of 40 legislative proposals under consideration. The proposed amendment seeks to modify the 1999 Constitution by introducing provisions for removing corrupt judges and justices from office.
The bill proposes adding a new subsection 6 to Sections 231, 238, 250, 256, and 271 of the Constitution to facilitate the removal of any Chief Justice of Nigeria, President and Justices of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judges, and Judges of the Federal High Court, the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, and State High Courts found guilty of corruption.
A draft of the bill states: “The bill confers powers on the Nigerian Bar Association to receive petitions against any erring judicial officer, consider the defence of the petitioned officer, and if not satisfied, conduct a confidence vote over him.”
The draft further explains that if two-thirds of NBA members at its Annual General Meeting or Conference pass a vote of no confidence against a judicial officer, the individual’s continuation in office would be effectively terminated. This termination would imply that the officer is presumed to have resigned from service under the law.
Speaking on the rationale behind the bill, Ogene, a member of the Labour Party, stated, “The essence of the bill is to provide an alternative constitutional mechanism for disciplining erring and corrupt judicial officers, moving away from the National Judicial Council’s approach, which is no longer effective in addressing the rot in our judicial system.”
