It was only by whiskers that a man who has sentenced many to death during the cause of an illustrious judicial career escaped death himself in circumstances that would have been amusing were they not so alarming.
On Wednesday, July 12, 2023, while in his office apparently attending to some urgent administrative duties, a section of the High Court Complex in Ekiti collapsed sending the Chief Judge, Oyewole Adeyeye, to the hospital.
In the aftermath of the shocking incident, the Nigeria Bar Association which is the umbrella body of lawyers in Nigeria released a statement. Many Nigerians also weighed in.
The statements have been to wish the Chief Judge quick recovery and express shock. In a country where superstition is rife, the timing of the collapse and the Chief Judge’s presence when it happened would certainly have the superstitious rendering their interpretations and suspicions. Yet, there is nothing superstitious about the fact that beyond the suspicion of those for whom every misfortune is the machination of “village people”, there is enough shame to go around.
Can a government house, any government house, collapse in Nigeria because of disrepair? The simple answer is no because the executive usually looks after itself.
In Nigeria’s fatally flawed federal arrangement, the executive looks after itself and episodically looks after the legislature. For the judiciary, combing for crumbs from the master’s table is typically its only hope.
As Nigeria’s descent into dysfunction has gained forceful traction, frustrated and terrified Nigerians have seen their finger-pointing grow wilder. A chief target of what is an archery of fingers has been the Nigerian judiciary.
For many, the Nigerian judiciary is not just a prominent part of Nigeria’s problems, it is the very the source of many a Nigerian problems,it is the very face of Nigeria’s problems with corrupt judges twisting the law, thwarting the course of justice and selling judgements to the highest bidder.
Coming off the calamitous administration of Muhammadu Buhari who used the supposed failure of the judiciary to hide his incompetence and ineptitude, it is safe to say that Nigerians are not exactly the most confident bunch in their judiciary.
But, before the housewife can be blamed for making a tasteless pot of soup, it would only be fair that an inventory is conducted of the ingredients given her.
The question of the funding if the judiciary in Nigeria is as old as the country itself. There has been a flurry of activities recently meant to improve the welfare of those who sit in the country’s courts, but deep problems remain.
If the pockets of the judges are made just deep enough to make them content and comfortable, what about the infrastructural deficit in the Nigerian judiciary.
The court buildings In Abuja may glisten, but an excursion into neighbouring states would reveal a frightening alternate reality – of creaking court buildings pointing to a democracy in ruins.
It begs many questions at once. In a country where many institutions are struggling to live up to their responsibility, it begs the question of what Nigerians want from the judiciary and how much the judiciary can do in a country where cynicism is a national heirloom.
Nigeria is in a period of heightened national sensitivity following controversial elections in February 2023. With the Presidential Election Petition Court poised to give its judgement in the coming days, all eyes are on the judiciary.
But how much does the judiciary get, and how much is it expected to do? Do Nigerian power brokers recognize that for Nigeria’s democracy, the judiciary needs its independence at all costs, financial or otherwise?
The way and manner judges are appointed in the country has long been a subject of heated debates even if if there is always a sprinkling of due process.
For a long time, there have also been questions about the amount of influence peddled before those who sit on the country’s bench.
It is crazy that in Africa’s largest democracy, the judiciary has been bled of all public confidence over the years. Rectifying this institutional rot will take sweat, tears, and blood.
But it would be an illusion to think that without proper investment the judiciary can attain the level of independence it needs to do its job properly in an increasingly complex country.
While the learned Chief Judge of Ekiti State escaped death by whiskers, there is no escaping the fact that the judiciary will remain a dying institution unless urgent reforms are made.
Kene Obiezu,
keneobiLezu@gmail.com
