High-velocity Judicial Rascality In Nigeria

There is a very sound reason why they say that justice delayed is justice denied.

Considering what is currently playing out in Nigeria, the truism of that aphorism is amply justified.

Out of respect for the Law and its processes, I n I am constrained from going into the specifics of the case or the Judge in question but suffice it to say that it is highly grievous.

When a Judge or Justice skips duty and flees from their court on a self- proclaimed Judgement Day, not because they are sick or otherwise credibly indisposed, then you realize that something is fundamentally wrong, very wrong, with the Judiciary in Nigeria.

Imagine a Judge or Justice skipping Judgement Day because he or she is attending a Judicial Conference? That is high velocity judicial irresponsibility.

I n I wonder why the Judge or Justice in question proclaimed Judgement Day in the first place knowing fully well that they cannot fulfill it because of such mundane extraneous circumstances as a Judicial Conference.

High caliber conferences are typically announced and advertised well in advance, so that all intended participants may adjust their itineraries accordingly.

A person’s word ought to be their bond, not to talk of that of a Judge or Justice whose utterances carry much more weight, including that over life or death.

From I n I’s understanding, the Judgement in question has been skipped without warning more than once. It was originally scheduled for last week, but the Justice was a no show. Afterwards, there was an atier-the- fact explanation that the Judge was attending a Judicial Conference. The Judgement was rescheduled for last Friday. Again, there was a no show by the Judge because he or she was still attending the aforesaid Conference.

It bears querying why the said Justice fixed the first no-show day in the first place. Accepting and conceding that the first no-show Judgement Day was an honest mistake arising from an unforeseen emergency judicial conference, it still leaves much to be desired. To put it mildly, it hints very strongly of the existence of administrative chaos in the Nigerian Judiciary as a public Institution.

The second no-show Judgment Day is completely inexplicable and totally unacceptable. On behalf of the entire Nigerian populace, I n I condemn it in the very strongest and in no uncertain terms.

There is a very strong hypothesis that the public fixing and re-fixing of the Judgement Day was extortionary in nature and designed to secure maximum ransom payments from a particularly desperate politician, who was held over the barrel of a gun by its anticipatory public pronunciation.

Even before the announced Judgement is delivered, it has already been

profoundly tainted as most likely purchased.
The desperate politician is known to be eager to be sworn into a plum position of authority on May 29, 2023. There are stories of 100 billion

naira in the local currency being the ransom fee either for delay in

Judgement, or for favorable judgement, or for both.

There are also very strong stories of the re-elected Governor of the home state of the desperate politician, known to be his lackey and Man-Friday, making moves to secure emergency 100-billion-naira loan on behalf of his home state for the refurbishment of schools in the state.

Why the rush? Why could the loan application not wait a few days until May 29, 2023, when he is expected to be sworn in to commence his second term as Governor? You be the Judge if the said stories are indeed true.

It is evident that the Justice does not deserve to be in the position they arbitrarily find themselves. They are a complete disgrace to themselves, their families, their profession, the Judicial institution, and Nigeria.

How can a mere Judicial Conference take precedence over a pronounced Judgement Day, not once but twice? It is suggestive of the amount of contempt with which Nigerians are held by public institutions in their own country. This cannot happen anywhere else, except maybe in Russia.

It is tantamount to a surgeon abandoning the operating heater and a surgical procedure on the same patient, not once, but twice, because they must attend a medical conference. That is criminal negligence, and anything criminal must be duly and very severely punished by any self- respecting Institution. I n I wait to see if the Institution of the Judiciary in Nigeria is self-respecting.

Its status will be determined and established by what kind of reckless behavior it condones or punishes.

This mater of the errant Justice in question, whose word is worth absolutely nothing, must be taken up by the highest regulator of judicial conduct in the Land. There the whole world shall see if they will condone

it, proving that judicial rascality is customary in the Nigerian Judiciary, or punish it severely, proving that such rascality cannot be tolerated in the Judicial institution in Nigeria.

We are watching ti.