In his valedictory address in October 2023, retired Supreme Court Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad, delivered a scathing criticism of pervasive corruption within the Nigerian judiciary, describing the institution he was leaving as “something else” and “far from the one I voluntarily joined”.

Justice Dattijo lamented that he was retiring as a sad man, expressing regret that the institution had deteriorated to such a state. He emphasised that the onus was on judicial officers to confront these challenges head-on to restore integrity and public confidence.

Last week Monday, President Tinubu, while declaring open the All Nigeria’s Judges Conference in Abuja affirmed that there’s a perception of the judiciary as corrupt and that justice is for sale. According to him, “Justice must never be for sale, and the Bench must never become a sanctuary for compromise. Corruption in any arm of government weakens the nation, but corruption in the Judiciary destroys it at its core.”

Today, the common man has lost hope in the judiciary as his last hope. Justice appears to be for sale in Nigeria. Politicians are believed to compromise the judges easily and election winners are commonly determined by judges and not the votes cast by the electorate. Corruption in the judiciary appears to be the biggest threat to Nigeria’s democracy more than anything.

However, it’s in the place of the Executive to ensure the independence of the judiciary. But can that be achieved when the executive provides cars and houses for the judges? Where is the political will to make the judiciary independent? How can Nigeria enjoy a corrupt free judiciary for our democracy to grow? How do we stop politicians from compromising the judiciary?

When a retiring Supreme Court Justice laments that the institution he devoted his life to has become “something else,” a nation ought to pause. When a sitting President publicly admits that justice is widely believed to be for sale, that pause must become a reckoning.

In the space of just one year, Nigeria has witnessed two extraordinary confessions from the very summit of its judicial and political hierarchy—Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad’s searing valedictory in 2023, and President Bola Tinubu’s recent declaration that corruption has eaten so deeply into the judiciary that it threatens the very core of the nation. These are not ordinary warnings.

They echo the frustrations of millions who no longer see the courts as the last hope of the common man, but as battlegrounds where political power is secured and legitimacy is traded. From the corridors of the Supreme Court to state courtrooms across the federation, concerns about compromised judgments, political interference, and financial dependence on the executive have grown into a crisis of confidence that now imperils Nigeria’s democracy.

Senior lawyers, activists, former judicial officers, and public advocates have dissected the roots of the crisis and outlined the hard choices Nigeria must confront. They argued that without urgent, structural, and cultural reforms, the judiciary may collapse under the weight of its own contradictions. Some insisted that the system is held hostage by the executive’s financial grip.

Others argued the rot is societal—part of a deeper national illness that no isolated reform can cure. Yet all agree on one point: the integrity of the judiciary is the hinge upon which Nigeria’s democratic survival rests. Their perspectives are sobering, urgent, and unfiltered—because the stakes have never been higher.

Urgent reforms needed to restore judicial integrity —Murtala Abubakar, President of the Arewa Defence League

“President Tinubu’s comment is both timely and troubling as it reveals the depth of public distrust in a system once regarded as the last hope of the common man. The decay within the judiciary represents the single biggest threat to our democracy. Nigerians have lost hope in judicial integrity. The President’s admission should signal the beginning of meaningful changes, not merely rhetorical acknowledgment.

he executive arm of government bears the constitutional responsibility to safeguard judicial independence, yet wields disproportionate influence because the judiciary remains financially dependent on it. This independence is a farce when the judiciary is financially shackled to the executive. True reform must begin with freeing the judiciary from the “begging-bowl syndrome.

“Urgent reforms are needed to sanitize the system, beginning with full financial autonomy for the judiciary. The judiciary must receive its budget directly and control its own resources to regain its dignity as a co-equal arm of government. The National Judicial Council, NJC, must be restructured and empowered with broader representation from civil society and the bar, and the mandate to investigate and sanction erring judges swiftly and transparently.

There must also be transparent, merit-based appointments and promotions of judges, regular lifestyle audits, and strict verification of asset declarations to detect unexplained wealth among judicial officers. I also advocate a genuine, non-selective anti-corruption crusade targeting politicians who attempt to induce judges. With political power being highly lucrative in Nigeria, anti-graft agencies such as the EFCC and ICPC must be empowered to act independently and decisively against all offenders, regardless of political affiliation.

“Strengthening the integrity of elections remains one of the most effective ways to reduce judicial interference in political outcomes. There must therefore be reforms that would force the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure credible polls, thereby limiting the judiciary’s role to an impartial arbiter of last resort. President Tinubu has identified the cancer. The diagnosis is clear. What is now required is the surgical will to remove it, Nigeria cannot afford further erosion of public confidence in the justice system. The President must lead by action, not rhetoric, by releasing the judiciary from executive control and empowering it to operate independently. The hope of the common man must not be allowed to die.”

Meaningful reform must go beyond institutional adjustments —Mr Anthony N.Z. Sani, former Secretary General, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF)

“Corruption has become commonplace in all facets of Nigeria’s national life and the courts have become a spider web that catches only small flies while the bigger ones tear through. Nigerian society does not stigmatise corruption, but instead glamorises it where wealth—regardless of its source—becomes a ticket to status, influence, and recognition. Meaningful reform must go beyond institutional adjustments to a deeper societal transformation. Only a cultural renaissance can rewire our politics, reshape our sense of justice, make mercy smarter and hope strategic, all in the interest of socioeconomic development. Unless Nigeria confronts corruption both within public institutions and in societal attitudes, efforts by any administration will continue to yield limited results”.

The judiciary must purge itself of rotten eggs on the bench —Iniruo Wills, legal practitioner

Iniruo Wills, former Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy in Bayelsa said: “It is utterly naive to expect the Executive, which is the symbol of Nigeria’s particular kind of corrosive political class, to ensure independence of the judiciary. While there are still a lot of excellent and upright judges, the real burden is on the judiciary itself to purge itself of the conduct and perceived rotten eggs that have brought the collective moral stock of the Nigerian bench to such grief. As long as judges as a class, including the individually exemplary ones, are generally not visibly animated and doing something about the groundswell of negative public perception, the assumption is that they don’t care about the fallen reputation of that otherwise sacred institution and how they are viewed individually, by extension.”

We’re dealing with a cancerous situation — Nwoko

Former Akwa Ibom Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Uwemedimo Nwoko said: “In Nigeria, particularly the government, we choose to live in denial. The constitution clearly makes provision for financial independence of all arms of government, particularly the Judiciary.

But the Executive now puts a stranglehold on the money meant for the other arms of government in breach of the constitutional provisions, thereby making it impossible for them (Judiciary, Legislature) to be able to exercise their financial independence and of course operate independently. Most regrettably, when you raise that issue with the Executive, they would be the first to tell you the Judiciary is independent. So, we do the talk, we don’t walk the talk. The Executive will mouth it, they would scream and say it at all times that they have no business hampering the independence of the other arms of government, particularly the Judiciary. What they say is radically completely different from what they do. How could the Judiciary be independent when they cannot build their own houses, buy infrastructure, or make provision for themselves. If the President does not release money to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), the Federal Judiciary Service Commission, the money can’t trickle down. If the governor does not release money to the Chief Judge of the State, the Judiciary of that state is strangled. At the end of the day, they have not made any effort to achieve the independence of the Judiciary just as it happens in the case of the Legislature. It’s all lip service, all lip service.

“Much as we blame the Judiciary, we blame the Bar. The Judiciary does not act alone. It’s about what the lawyers in the Bar take to the Judiciary and pull the Judges. It’s lawyers that approach the Judges. It’s the lawyers that work for the politicians that are corrupt. So, we’re dealing with a cancerous situation.”

Corruption is systemic — Emiaso

Also, a retired President of the Delta State Area Customary Court, Miakpor Emiaso, said: “The corruption that we have in this country is systemic and persons who are in the judiciary, whether as judges or as administrative staff are products of this system. You cannot expect to supplant corruption from just a segment of that system without a holistic supplanting of corruption from the system.

“When we say that the judiciary is corrupt, it is not that the judiciary is more corrupt than other parts of the Nigerian society. It is just that there is a higher expectation of the judiciary to avoid corruption; that we had expected that even if the whole country is corrupt, the judiciary which is perceived as the last hope of the common man should not be corrupt. But you appointed people from a corrupt society to man the judiciary and you expect that when they get to the judiciary then they should just become

saints and angels? If you are ever thinking that you can stop the judiciary from being corrupt, then you must remove this society as it is and put in place a new society. What we can do is to go back to the basics, begin to train our children from the kindergarten, primary school in such a way that they do not grow up and become part of the already corrupt society. How you do that, l don’t know.”

In his submission, Mr Polycarp Aande, the Former Secretary of Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Makurdi Branch and current President of Catholic Lawyers, Makurdi Diocese, stated that the judiciary would be free from corruption and influence by politicians when that arm of government is truly independent from the Executive arm of government.

He said, “until we are able to maintain proper boundaries between the three arms of government; Executive, the Judiciary, and the Legislature, we will continue to have problems because one of the major causes of the problem is the overlap of powers. For example, if we take away the power of appointments from the Executive, we will solve a large part of the problem.

Many judicial nominations to the bench, even to the Supreme Court are made by the Executive, usually the President or the government in power. Once appointments are controlled by the executive, the appointees naturally become loyal to the executive. So if the judiciary becomes dependent on the executive for appointments, that creates a clear imbalance in the system. Once that happens, the executive can dispose of or influence judicial officers at will. And when you allow politicians to influence appointments of judicial officers, the officers will feel obligated to repay those political favours.

Funding and independence are also important factors; if you give the judiciary the resources they need directly, they are less vulnerable to influence. Give the judicial arm the money directly without having to pass it through the executive”.

political activist, Mr. Blessing Adima said, “there should be financial autonomy for the judiciary. If the judiciary has financial autonomy, they don’t need the executive to provide those houses or cars. I urge the judges to give themselves this orientation so that they can save themselves the embarrassment befalling them in recent years. My warning to politicians who compromise the judiciary is for them to desist from it because one day there will be a Pharaoh who does not know Joseph.”

Tinubu’s statement is wake up call for the Judiciary — Omare

Eric Omare, a legal practitioner and minority rights activist said: “President Tinubu’s statement is a wake-up call for the judiciary, especially those in leadership positions in the judiciary.

It simply means that at the end of the day, it’s Judges, Justices and other stakeholders in the judiciary that would take the blame and not the beneficiaries of the perceived corruption in the judiciary. As per the Executive not allowing the judiciary to enjoy financial independence in the form of buying cars for Judges, building residential quarters, etc, my view is that Justice Sector stakeholders are to be blamed. If the relevant stakeholders in the justice sector, including senior lawyers and organisations such as BOSAN, take a firm position on financial independence for the judiciary, it is possible to achieve it. But the justice sector stakeholders seem not to be firm enough in pursuing financial independence for the judiciary and there lies the reason for Executive interference in the affairs of the judiciary.”

Judiciary must reinvent itself — Elder Ambakederimo

In his submission, Elder Joseph Ambakederimo, Convener, South South Reawakening Group, asserted: “Many Judges Conferences have been held with similar rhetoric and at the end of each conference we return to the “swamp” and resume business as usual and the circus continues.

The system is rigged and it will continue to be so, as long as Judges are appointed from amongst the Nigerian population. Now, provision of welfare for judicial officers is another very critical issue that must be addressed. One would have thought that the judicial arm of government caters for the welfare of their officers by providing a conducive work environment for their officers to carry out their assignments.

If one may ask, what then is the budgetary provisions of the Judiciary being used for if the Executive Arm has now formed the habit of providing accommodations, vehicles, wardrobe allowance and all sorts for judicial officers. The line needs to be drawn now or we are going on the sloppy slope that will finally turn out to be an albatross.”

Survival of democracy and society’s moral compass depends on the Judiciary — Morris

Also speaking, Alagoa Morris, a Niger Delta environmentalist said: “I have lived 99.9.9% of my entire life in this country and I had very strong reservations about the president’s eloquently delivered speech. It is difficult, from the current state of the nation’s moral bankruptcy; not to conclude that it was rhetoric. Where are the incorruptible judges we read about? However, the rest is left with the judges; the President has publicly urged them to courageously dispense justice, even as he pointed out that the survival of democracy and society’s moral compass depends on the Judiciary; hence it behooves of them to individually and collectively as an institution search their consciences and reposition themselves in the service of the nation. As an institution, the total independence of the Judiciary is of essence and the Executive should respect that independence too in the common interest. Presently, it is difficult to say the Judiciary is the last hope of the common man as many are of the opinion that justice is for sale to the highest bidder; even though there are still some who have not allowed themselves to be unduly influenced by money or the political class. In climes where the rule of law reigns, institutions are the supporting pillars of such societies, not strong men and women. There should be a healthy rivalry in separation of powers where checks and balance exist in the interest of all.”

It’s not the duty of the executive to build houses, buy cars for judges —David West

For David West, Chairman Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, Bayelsa State branch, he queried: “The same politicians are corrupting the judiciary by procuring judgments with money. However, in a country or society where the judiciary is on the shelf, that country is finished and doomed. The judiciary must always be incorruptible; the judiciary must be free of inducements.

In such instances, it is not the duty of the executive to begin to build houses, buy cars for the judiciary. The judiciary by virtue of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended is funded through the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

The judiciary is a separate arm of government on its own, so the idea of buying vehicles or providing accommodation for judges in my own opinion is also another form of corruption because he who pays the piper dictates the tune. If a governor is buying vehicles or building houses, how will the judiciary be free, fair and neutral in their judgment? Having collected gifts from the governor or president, they cannot adjudicate matters in that circumstance again with a free conscience”.

Judges should no longer accept houses, cars from executives — Jackson

Dr. Omenazu Jackson, Chancellor, International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights (ISSJHR) said President Tinubu’s statement reflects a longstanding national dilemma. According to him, “millions of citizens no longer regard the courts as the last hope of the common man. Instead, public perception increasingly suggests that political actors easily compromise judicial processes, and that electoral victories are secured in courtrooms rather than at polling units.

There should therefore be an immediate enforcement of Sections 81(3), 121(3), and 162(9), financial autonomy must not be optional or negotiable and the selection and discipline of judges must be strictly shielded from political interests. Judges should no longer accept houses, cars, or support packages from the Executive. Criminalization of attempts to influence judges, political inducement or interference must attract severe statutory penalties. When a court of law fails to dispense justice to all concerned, it ceases to be a court of justice and becomes a bakery of iniquity.”

Mr. Femi Aborisade, human rights activist and lawyer, said: “Government does no favour when cars and houses are given to judges. However, such benefits ought to be part and parcel of their conditions of service, as entitlement. They ought to be budgeted for in the budgets of the Judiciary as rights, rather than favours. For as long as cars and houses are not prescribed as entitlements of judges but favours from the executive to the Judiciary, it means the Judiciary is buried in a self-corrupting system.

To that extent, we all have a duty to rescue the Judiciary from a system in which entitlements are treated as discretionary favours. Our judges should not be seen as objects to be pitied and favoured subject to the discretion of the Executive arm of government but as proud public officers of integrity who have basic entitlements to the good life, as of right.

Such discretionary “gifts” from the Executive should be rejected and/or discouraged by imposition of punitive sanctions on the giver and receiver. The fight to have an independent Judiciary is not the responsibility of politicians. Politicians act to protect their political and economic interests. It is in their interest to subjugate, compromise, intimidate and/or pocket the Judiciary. It is the responsibility of the larger society to free the Judiciary from the subjugation and influence of politicians who seek to compromise all institutions and make them bow to their mandate. The road to doing this lies in comprehensive revamping of the processes and system of election and/or appointment and remuneration of public officers”.

An activist, Olowolayemo Daniel, said “As long as the Executive is saddled with the responsibility of paying the judiciary, they will be subservient to those who pay their bills. With the incentives this government has doled out to the judiciary, do you think any judgment will be delivered against them? I don’t think so.”

Also, a legal practitioner, Demilade Titilope, said, “all the incentives are legitimate things that judges should have. In a saner clime, all these privileges ought to have been provided a long time ago but successive governments failed to do this. The incentives given to them will not determine where the pendulum of justice swings. They are men governed by conscience.”

A Public Analyst and Media Strategist, Lanre Ogunsuyi argued that, “The executive’s influence over the judiciary, including providing amenities like cars and houses for judges, has compromised the judiciary’s independence and impartiality thereby eroding the trust of the common man who hitherto see the institution as their last hope. There is a perception that justice is for sale and that only the rich politicians have access to justice.

These are recurring patterns that continue to undermine the public’s trust in the judiciary and the rule of law. There is a need for Judicial Accountability through strengthening the National Judicial Council (NJC) to effectively discipline erring judges and promote transparency in the judiciary’s appointment and promotion processes in a conscious effort to restore public trust in the Institution. There must be robust oversight mechanisms that can help detect and prevent corruption.

The executive, legislature, and judiciary must work together to implement meaningful reforms that promote judicial independence, transparency, and accountability. The political will to reform the judiciary and ensure its independence is crucial. This requires leaders to prioritize the rule of law and democracy over personal or party interests. Civil society organizations and the media must play a vital role in advocating judicial reforms and holding leaders accountable for their actions”. (Weekend Trust)