Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has issued a stern warning to judges and lawyers ahead of the 2027 general elections, urging them to avoid partisan alignment, forum shopping, and the reckless use of artificial intelligence in legal proceedings.
Justice Kekere-Ekun gave the charge on Wednesday in Abuja during the 2026/2027 Legal Year ceremony of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN).
Reminding judicial officers that many of them would serve on Election Petition Tribunals to resolve “politically sensitive disputes,” she emphasized that their conduct would face intense public scrutiny.
“The nature of such assignments demands an even greater degree of impartiality, restraint, and detachment,” the CJN said. “Nothing in your associations, public engagements, or conduct should create a reasonable perception of political alignment or predisposition.”
Turning her attention to the Bar, Justice Kekere-Ekun strongly condemned “forum shopping”—the practice of filing similar cases in multiple courts to secure a favorable outcome. She warned that parallel proceedings that lead to conflicting orders damage public trust and embarrass the judiciary.
“The proper forum is determined by law, not by the perceived likelihood of success before a particular judge or court,” she stated. “The Bar must never become an instrument for manipulating the judicial process for partisan or strategic purposes.”
Addressing the growing reliance on technology, the CJN warned legal practitioners against using unverified Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in drafting court processes. She cautioned that AI often generates hallucinated case law, citing non-existent authorities with fake citations.
“Every authority must be independently located, read, and verified before being cited in court. The fact that an error originated from AI does not diminish a lawyer’s professional responsibility,” she stressed, adding that judges must also refrain from feeding confidential case files into insecure AI platforms.
On public criticism of the bench, Justice Kekere-Ekun noted that while citizens have the right to critique judgments, that right does not cover personal attacks on judges or attempts to blackmail the courts through media pressure.
Speaking at the event, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), represented by the Director of Civil Appeals, Tijani Gazali, praised the NICN’s electronic filing system. He, however, urged the court to tackle systemic delays in employment disputes, noting that prolonged litigation hurts both workers and employers.
In his address, NICN President, Justice Benedict Kanyip, revealed that the court disposed of 2,236 cases across its divisions over the past 12 months, significantly clearing its backlog while expanding its digital infrastructure.
