Lawyer and public affairs commentator, Senator Sola Akinyede, has claimed that only about 10 to 15 per cent of Nigeria’s judiciary remains untainted, lamenting what he described as a deepening rot in the nation’s judicial system.
Akinyede made the remark while speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Monday.
He called for fundamental structural reforms in the judiciary, insisting that meaningful changes would require amendments to the Nigerian Constitution.
According to him, he had proposed constitutional amendments in 2010 while serving as a member of the Senate Constitutional Review Committee, particularly to reform the composition of the National Judicial Council, NJC.
“As far as I’m concerned, what the Nigerian judiciary needs is fundamental structural change.
“I was a member of the Senate Constitutional Review Committee. If you are going to make any structural changes then or now, you need a constitutional amendment.
“I proposed amendments in 2010 because when I read the constitution, I said, how can you have the Chief Justice of Nigeria appointing 19 members of the NJC out of 23?
“So I proposed some other amendments, but I never imagined the kind of rot that we have now,” he said.
Akinyede said the level of corruption in the judiciary had worsened significantly over the years, noting that while only about 10 per cent of judicial officers could have been described as compromised between 2005 and 2010, the situation had now deteriorated.
“You see, in about 2005 to 2010 you could say that maybe 10% of the judiciary was rotten. But now I can’t say 10%.
“In fact, some people will say it’s the reverse now. Maybe 10% or 15% are clean. Nobody ever imagined the kind of rot that we have today.
“And you see, some of the things that we see today, we never imagined them 30 years ago. For instance, judges lobbying or arranging to have their children to be made judges. Things that were unheard of about 30 years ago, you see them now.
“When I made those amendments, people did not take me seriously. But even I myself, I never imagined that the kind of thing that is happening today will ever happen,” he added.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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