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Why Top Nigerian Judges Are Corrupt And Their Colleagues Don’t Want To Expose Them – Osinbajo

Osinbajo to traditionalrulersVice President Yemi Osinbajo has regretted that while some Nigerias judges were perpetuating corruption, their colleagues would not expose them for fear of not being seen as responsible for possibly ending of their career.
He said that one of the great difficulties of the legal profession in Nigeria “is our shyness and reluctance to call ourselves to order. Nobody wants to be held responsible for possibly ending the career of another.”
Vice President Osinbajo, who spoke at the 2016 Fellows’
Lecture and Conferment of Honorary Fellowship on him and three others by the Nigeria Institute of Adcanced Legal Studies, said that in all the serious researches on the best known administration of justice systems, it is evident that at various points in their histories, the institutions were challenged by falling standards, corruption, and abuse of office.
“When this occurred, the profession itself had often made the first and farthest drastic moves to self-correct. So we watch the decay and gradual collapse of an excellent tradition built on the self-restraint, sacrifices and integrity of many in the past 100 years.
“Chief Awomolo, SAN, (today’s Guest Lecturer) has said the legal profession we fought for is not what we now have. Many past and present members of the bench have also said so. I agree with them. But he said things would improve. How?”
Osinbajo said those in the legal profession owe themselves a duty to preserve the Administration of Justice System not only because it is the last hope of the common man but because this is the means of livelihood. Our profession and the credibility of the Administration of Justice System depends entirely on public confidence, once that is eroded because of the delinquency of a few, we, the majority must fight hard against it.
“It was the legendary Hon Justice Chukwudifu Oputa  of blessed memory who said, “If you are a judge and you are corrupt, where do we go from there? Then everything has come to a halt.
“If the legislature is corrupt, you go to the judiciary for redress. If the executive is corrupt you go to the judiciary for remedy. If the judiciary itself is corrupt, where do you go from there?  “Judicial independence is spoken of sometimes as though it is a favour we do to the judiciary: no it is not. It is not a favour or a privilege to them. It is the essence of our system of justice. A judge must be independent for at least one reason: so that he or she can be fair and just, without fear or favour.
“This is the reason why the executive must neither interfere in judicial process  nor attempt to compromise judicial independence in any way.
“But, (and this is fundamental), it is to protect judicial independence that we must fight corruption. The most potent threat against judicial independence is corruption. If a litigant can buy justice, how can a compromised judge be fair or just?”[myad]

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