I admire Muslim ladies wearing hijab, but detest promoting religion in secular state – Omirhobo
Rights activist and constitutional lawyer, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo, recently appeared in courts in Abuja and Lagos with traditional religious apparel in protest against the Supreme Court ruling on the use of hijab in public places. In this interview with DEBORAH ONYOFUFEKE, he explains why the government should not get itself involved in religious matters in a secular state
You were at the Supreme Court to protest the Hijab verdict by the apex court. What motivated your reaction?
I won’t say it was a protest, I went there to celebrate the judgment as it has given us an avenue to enjoy our rights as stated in the constitution because we all can now dress anyhow, even in a public institution. No doubt you are being sarcastic with your response. Does your sarcasm mean that you disapprove of the Supreme Court’s judgment given the fact that Nigeria is a secular state?
Of course….
There’s a report credited to you where you demanded that the (former) Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad give accounts and tender receipts on how money allocated to the judiciary were dispensed and just last week, the Justices of the Supreme Court alleged that the former CJN was corrupt. Is that your thought too? The (former) CJN is allegedly corrupt. Quote me, please. I have been saying this for more than three years since he came in that the man is not a fit and proper person to be the CJN. He came in through corruption and has exhibited that trait. How did he come in? Corruption does not mean that you steal money alone. Corruption means when you abuse your office or your power or a show public tussle. That was how he came in. He accepted that position when he was not supposed to. He came in and the National Assembly knew that there was a pending case, the president knew that he had a pending case, and the National Judicial Council (NJC) knew there was a pending case between me and the incoming CJ, but they still went ahead to appoint, confirm, and swore him in as the CJ. So, I mean is that not corruption? And he was attending every symposium in his capacity as CJ. Two things he always advocates for; one, how the judiciary will be rid of corruption. Two, how the Judiciary will be funded. You see the hypocrisy when he is the grandfather and grand patron of corruption in the Judiciary. He cries that the Judiciary is not well paid whereas he is allegedly financing himself and his family. So, the man should be probed.
Two weeks ago, when you attended the Supreme Court proceeding in your religious apparel attached to your robe, the Justices went on a short break that was allegedly caused by you. Have they reached out to you since then to praise or condemn your appearance in court?
No, but if they do, they should give me a handshake that I have done well
Two Fridays ago, the controversial amended section 84(12) case was struck out by the Supreme Court. One would have expected the judgment on that matter earlier than Friday. This brings us to the issue of prolonged trial on cases and slow dispensation of justice in the Nigeria Judicial system, which has caused many Nigerians to seek alternative measures to issues instead of using the court of law. How can this change?
It all depends on the Judge. Over 85 per cent of members of the bench have no business being there. Many of them find it difficult in distilling issues. Most of them shy away from issues. For instance, there are cases that they can give solely but they will adjourn them. Some of these Judges are very diligent. Some are diligent among them and for such few ones some of these cases are dispatched with urgency. So, I think what they can do to avoid a situation like this is to transcribe their cases very well, look at those cases that are time-bound, and make sure that they give them priority over others. Generally, one of the basic reasons for the delay in delivering judgement is that we don’t have the right people there.
Why did you say that?
We have incompetent people on the bench. People who have no business being there. Those who have dreamt to be just lawyers and those who are trying to be judges don’t get the opportunity because it has become a family enterprise. Yes, it’s business, so when you don’t have the right people there, things are difficult. If you see someone that is skilful, it takes him lesser time to accomplish a task than someone who is not skilful or knowledgeable. That is the basic thing because I don’t see any reason why apart from every other factor like upholding counsel, vie for time, and all that. I don’t see why a case cannot fly. Another thing is that the workload of the Judges is heavy.
Talking about the bulky workload on the Judges and accelerated hearing. What is your stand on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and is it working in Nigeria?
To some extent, it is. People settle cases and they just walk away but not for core Judicial people because ADR lasts for just five minutes. It’s about if you want to settle or not or let’s go for trial but at least, it is gaining ground and we are solving problems through the ADR
Aside from the hijab verdict, is there something else in the judicial process that you disapprove of?
The welfare of the Judges. A lot of them are not properly taken care of. Like, in Lagos they are not doing badly likewise Abuja but in other states, they are poorly paid. The welfare of the Judges should be well taken care of. Seriously, their welfare, pay, and allowances should be well taken care of. They are not giving them what is due to them. The executives and even the heads of the court are sitting on the money. Look at what is happening at the Supreme Court for that matter, one man sitting on all the money meant for the Justices that shows you what is happening in the state high courts. The same thing is happening. No sense of let’s give the money to the Justices or Judges that the money is supposed to come to. They cut it and also, money that is meant to buy generators or diesel they hold on to it and that’s why they were asking the former CJN to render an account. Not only the former CJN, but we also requested the NJC to render an account. You know the money comes to the NJC first before it goes to the CJN so we asked the NJC how much they gave you to give the courts. There’s another letter to that effect and when they answer all these questions, then we will be able to know what comes next and I want other lawyers to hold their chief Justice accountable by making a similar request. As I said, we have the wrong people there and once you have the wrong people there, nothing can happen that is just the truth.
Some Nigerians have lost hope in the judicial system calling it corrupt and also alleging that justice is meant to favour the highest bidder. Is this true?
Yes, it is but they should not lose hope because some people go to court and come up smiling, some people go to court, and they get their matters resolved. Some go to court, and they battle it out and they get a good result. But I will just say they should keep trying because the whole system is a mess. Not only in Judiciary but the executive, the National Assembly, the military, and everywhere. So, the judiciary is just one part of society. We have to try and preserve all these sectors the Judiciary is one of them so we should not lose hope. There are still some very good Judges that carry very good decisions too. The current Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has been criticized for allegedly corrupt especially in the era of section 84(12) as he was accused of manipulating the whole process to fit his ambition of contesting for the governor of Kebbi State at that time.
Although, he’s out of the race now. Some have even put-up arguments that the office of the AGF should be separated from that of the Minister of Justice as he was accused of abusing the powers. Do you agree with this position?
Ordinarily, if the Attorney General was up and doing, and he’s honest, and allegedly not corrupt, and he’s not petty, all these issues arising for him today would not have come to the front burner. Combining the office would have cut costs. Combining the office is not a big deal but if People are clamouring for it and they happen to be working on it, for example, it would bring about the division of labour and services. I think it will be a welcome development if that is made because they say absolute power corrupts absolutely. The AGF will not have too much power nor will the minister of justice will not too. Everything has its pros and cons but ordinarily, if our CJN was up and doing, all these issues would not arise.
Would you say that the AGF has dispensed his duty well since the years he has been in office?
The AGF is very incompetent. I lack words to describe that man. He’s clueless, and corrupt, I wonder how he became a senior advocate. Quote me, His a quota system senior Advocate. Without a quota system, I don’t think that man would have been a senior Advocate. He’s just one of these overrated Senior Advocates
Do you have a dislike for any religion?
What I want to say is that people say I hate Islam, because of the cases I have been doing like the case of the inscription of Arabic on the Naira that I filed to be removed, an inscription of Arabic on the Nigerian army logo, Nigeria membership of IOC, the case against the Inspector general of police to stop the change of the dress code of female Nigerian Muslim police officers to start wearing Hijab, people say because of this I don’t like Islam but it’s not true. I love this country. They should put our country first that is all I’m saying and most importantly, we are not taking the secularity of this country seriously and we need to. Religion must be put away from public service. Religion should be a private right and we should enjoy privacy when it comes to the public, government should not be involved in religion. Public funds should not be spent on religious matters and the development of business. I want to clear the air, that even the Hijab we are talking about, I love it. It’s smart to wear. When you see a professional lady putting on Hijab, it’s a beauty to behold honestly but I cannot say because I like Hijab now, I will now overlook the secularity of our society no I won’t do that.
You said the government should not involve itself in religious matters nor should it spend public money on religious matters. In Nigeria, the government uses the public fund to sponsor persons on a pilgrimage visit to Jerusalem and Mecca. Are you saying this is wrong?
We have filed several cases to make government reverse that situation but it’s still ongoing in secret. It is no longer as obvious as before. I have filed several cases to challenge it. I even filed a case against the pilgrim board and pilgrim commission and also the Christian board and Christian commission all over the country. The matter is still pending. Can you imagine in this religious body, if you go and look at their logo, you will see Nigeria’s emblem there as it’s a national commission? Do you know that we pay salaries to these people from our public fund? Do you know that members of the executive from the central bank, minister of health, transportation, and aviation are also members in their official capacity? Do you know that the Muslim body is the Hajj Commission the chairman national Assembly takes a bow? How? Why? For what? And the judiciary is not helping matters. When you bring such matters to court they will say you don’t have the locus standing
You talked about a case you instituted that the Arabic inscription on the naira should be taken out. Could you please shed more light on it?
Nigeria is a secular state, what is Arabic inscription doing in the naira? Our official language is English. Then we have the Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo. If they want to write naira in another language, write it in Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo and we understand. They will tell you that it’s not Arabic it’s bastardised form of Arabic. Whatever it is, it shouldn’t be in our currency. Nigeria is not an Islamic state. Nigeria is a circular state and we are still in court now.
