Legal scholar Chidi Anselm Odinkalu has decried what he termed a “crisis of credibility” in Nigeria’s judiciary due to endemic corruption, including at the highest levels.
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In an interview on Channels TV, the professor and chair of the Truth, Justice and Peace Commission, said it can no longer be claimed that courts are the last hope of the common person given the scale of rot.
Odinkalu referenced past allegations of judges collecting bribes to decide election cases, saying crooked judges who refuse bribes like Justice Joseph Nyorakwara often don’t progress far. He lamented that appointments now favor relatives of sitting judges and politicians over decent candidates.
The don stated that when Supreme Court justices themselves admit corruption has reached the apex court, it signals a grave credibility issue. He advocated unbundling the powerful office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, which he said has become “too dangerous.”
Odinkalu praised upright judges like Justice Zakarai but said their numbers are dwindling as judicial corruption becomes familial and a means of planting surrogates. He called for acknowledgment of the crisis and urgent reforms to clean up the bench across all levels, restoring merit and integrity to the process of judicial appointments.
According to Odinkalu, the National Judicial Council has found judges culpable in about 15% of petitions over 20 years, an extraordinarily high number given reluctance to discipline. He warned that justice will remain elusive unless the trend of nepotism and politicization in the judiciary is arrested.
Professor Odinkalu pointed out that allegations of judicial corruption, which were once confined to lower levels like magistrates in the 70s and 80s, have since infiltrated the high court and even the Supreme Court. He cited instances of corrupt practices, such as judges accepting money for favorable judgments, influencing court decisions, and allegations of corruption within the judiciary.
He emphasized the need for a comprehensive and honest acknowledgment of the corruption present in Nigerian courts. Professor Odinkalu firmly stated that the judiciary is no longer the last hope of the common person, as it should be. He argued that the appointment process is riddled with nepotism, favoritism, and connections, where family members, including sons, daughters, wives, and mistresses of judges and politicians, are appointed to key judicial positions.
He emphasized the urgent need to address these issues and proposed solutions. One of the key recommendations is to unbundle the office of the chief justice, which he described as having become a dangerous institution. Additionally, Professor Odinkalu highlighted the importance of finding and appointing judges based on merit and integrity, rather than family connections.
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