The former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused Nigeria’s judiciary of corruption, alleging their compromised roles in the delivery of justice, and demanded that legal practitioners reflect critically on their roles and recommit themselves to upholding impartial justice.
Speaking on Monday, during the Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Bwari Branch, in Abuja, El-Rufai said the Nigerian public no longer trusts the judiciary due to frequent delays in justice and decisions perceived to be influenced by bias or external interests.
He also argued a bleak disconnect between legal processes and actual justice in the country, stressing that the judiciary has become subservient to the executive arm of government.
“In parallel, our judiciary, meant to be the bedrock of fairness and order, is under intense scrutiny. Concerns about delayed justice, procedural inefficiencies, and in some cases, judicial compromise (to put the matter delicately), erode public confidence.”
The former governor stressed the increasing use of ex parte orders in political matters, accusing some legal practitioners of manipulating the court system for political advantage.
“The rise in ‘forum shopping,’ the weaponization of ex parte orders in political matters, and the growing perception that justice is for sale and available only to the rich and the powerful would cause the perceptive observer to conclude that what Nigerian courts do is the administration of law and not the administration of justice”.
“In Nigeria, there is a seemingly unbridgeable gulf between law and justice. Not only is justice wanting, but the law that is administered seems to be according to the wishes of the Executive”.
“The demand on you, as practitioners in the Temple of Justice, is a sober introspection as you contemplate whether indeed Justitia is blind and whether she holds the scales of justice in fine balance.”