Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna State, has charged corruption in the Nigerian court, saying that many judges and attorneys have compromised their duties in administering justice.
Speaking on Monday, May 19, 2025, at the Nigerian Bar Association’s Bwari Branch’s Law Week in Abuja, El-Rufai claimed that the public no longer has faith in the judiciary because of the frequent delays in justice and rulings that are thought to be swayed by bias or outside interests.
At the same time, our judiciary, which is supposed to be the cornerstone of justice and order, is being closely examined. Public confidence is undermined by worries about delayed justice, ineffective procedures, and, to put it politely, judicial compromise in certain situations, he added.
The former governor accused certain lawyers of swaying the legal system for their own political ends and bemoaned the growing use of ex parte orders in political cases.
According to El-Rufai, “the observant observer would conclude that what Nigerian courts do is the administration of law and not the administration of justice due to 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.”
He also argued that there is a stark disconnect between legal processes and actual justice in the country, stressing that the judiciary has become subservient to the executive arm of government.
“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,” he said.
El-Rufai called on legal practitioners to reflect critically on their roles and recommit themselves to upholding impartial justice.
“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.” Source=Punch news
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