Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has accused Nigeria’s judiciary of being “deeply compromised” in his new book, Nigeria: Past and Future, published by OOPL under the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library. He warns that corruption among judges has led to a judicial system that is more a “court of corruption than a court of justice.”
In the book, Obasanjo reflects on the steady decline of the judiciary’s integrity, lamenting the erosion of its reputation over the years. He describes the situation as particularly concerning in the Fourth Republic, stating that the swift downfall of the judicial system is a major cause for concern.
“The rapid fall of the judiciary’s integrity, particularly in the Fourth Republic, is lamentable,” Obasanjo writes. He goes on to warn that justice in Nigeria has become commodified, and this shift has serious implications for the nation’s stability.
According to Obasanjo, when justice is “only available to the highest bidder,” the nation faces the grave risk of despair, anarchy, and violence replacing justice, order, and hope. He vividly describes a chilling example he encountered years after leaving office.
Obasanjo shares a story from a northern state, where he was shown a line of six duplex buildings next to a government guest house. The governor pointed to the buildings, revealing that they were owned by a judge who had built them using proceeds from his role as chairman of election tribunals.
The former president’s criticism also extends to the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He accuses INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, of undermining the electoral process since 2015, rendering the election process a “charade.” According to Obasanjo, politicians no longer trust the electoral process, with many believing that the will of tribunal judges, rather than the will of the people, determines election outcomes.
“Most politicians believe in the will of the tribunal judges, court of appeal judges, and supreme court judges,” Obasanjo wrote, adding that Mahmood Yakubu’s influence over the electoral process has overshadowed the will of the people.
Obasanjo doesn’t stop there. He goes further to accuse the late former President Muhammadu Buhari of colluding with the judiciary during his election cases. He claims that Buhari disregarded caution and ensured judges who did his bidding were handsomely rewarded, regardless of their age or rank.
The former president also pointed out that after fraudulent elections, when the results were twisted to make “losers winners and winners losers,” the victim of this injustice was left with no choice but to seek redress in a judicial system that had become “a court of corruption rather than a court of justice.”
