By Admin
Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has delivered a scathing critique of Nigeria’s judiciary, accusing it of corruption and subservience to the executive, which he says has eroded public trust in the justice system.
Speaking on Monday, May 19, 2025, at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Law Week event hosted by the Bwari Branch in Abuja, El-Rufai said the courts no longer serve as impartial arbiters of justice.
“Our judiciary—meant to be the bedrock of fairness—is under intense scrutiny,” El-Rufai declared. “Concerns about delayed justice, procedural inefficiencies, and at times, outright judicial compromise are eating away at public confidence.”
He pointed to the growing misuse of ex parte orders in political disputes, describing them as tools now weaponized by the politically connected to manipulate outcomes. El-Rufai warned that this trend is turning the courts into battlegrounds for the rich and powerful, rather than institutions of justice.
“The rise in forum shopping, the weaponization of ex parte orders in political matters, and the perception that justice is for sale would lead many to conclude that our courts no longer deliver justice—but merely administer laws to suit the powerful.”
He further claimed that justice in Nigeria is increasingly dictated by the executive, rather than the judiciary acting independently. “There is a seemingly unbridgeable gulf between law and justice,” he said. “Justice is absent, and the law now bends to executive will.”
El-Rufai urged lawyers and judges to reflect deeply on their professional ethics and responsibility to society. “The legal community must ask: is Justitia still blind? Does she still hold the scales in balance?”
His comments come amid growing concerns from civil society groups about the state of judicial independence and accountability in Nigeria.
