Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has criticized the construction of houses for judges and justices by the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), saying that the action is unconstitutional.
Speaking on a programme on Channels Television, he said the action is an embarrassment to the Judiciary which ought to maintain its independence as one of the three arms of government in Nigeria.
It would be recalled that in September, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the construction of 40 housing units for judges and justices in the FCT.
Reacting to this development, The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike on Wednesday affirmed that the houses he built for certain Nigerian judges in Abuja were simply his way of implementing the policy of Bola Tinubu.
Wike insisted that the project was approved in the 2024 budget, and that he was only performing his duty by implementing it.
Meanwhile speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Mr. Falana maintained that such action was not good for the Judiciary.
Falana said, “As a member of the body of benchers, there is provision for it under the current democratic dispensation. There are three arms of the government, the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature. Each of them today enjoys financial autonomy; in fact, there are three judgments of the Federal High Court to the effect that the judiciary is financially autonomous.
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“For the states, the budget of the Judiciary, the money would be given to the heads of courts.
“So, if you want to buy cars, build houses, they are to be carried out from the budget of the Judiciary. The minister did not answer the question which was to the effect that; can you give houses to the judges before whom you have cases? Because, justice must not just be done, it must be seen to have been done.
“And people in the Executive must stop embarrassing the Judiciary. Now, look at the contradictions; it is more like the governor of Kaduna, Zamfara, Cross River or Lagos State coming to give federal judges houses in Abuja; no!
“Because you are a minister of the federal government like a state governor, your budget is limited towards the affairs of the Federal Capital Territory. So, you cannot as the head of the FCT be dishing out cars and houses to the judges in the Federal High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
“So, our judges don’t have business going to the Executive to get cars and houses for them. We must now have to operate under the law. Under the constitution, there is no provision for it”, he added.
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