Judges and the supreme court, according to Odinkalu, should acknowledge the “vast trust deficit” and take appropriate action to try to address the problems when they arise.
The public no longer has faith in the legal system, according to Chidi Odinkalu, the former chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission.
His comments come as President Bola Tinubu and Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), both deny having a phone conversation about the pending Presidential Election Petition for the 2023 election.
On Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Odinkalu argued that the supreme court and judges needed to acknowledge their “vast trust deficit” and take steps to address the escalating problems.
“The judicial system reflects a trust deficit that has been long in the making, and it is not one thing or an event, it is a build-up,” he claimed.
“All of this has had the result that people no longer trust judges,”
The human rights activist refuted the claim that it involved slander directed against the Chief Justice of India and other judges by stating, “There is an issue with judicial credibility, and this credibility crisis comes nearly invariably in party political cases and election petitions.
“It dates back to the elections in 1979. Judges have played a bigger part in resolving election disputes ever since we implemented the electoral system.
“I believe it was tolerable prior to 2003. After 2003, we entered uncharted ground when judges began determining who won and lost elections and adding and subtracting numbers, and as a result, the amounts of cash offered to judges to influence their conclusions started to vary.
When asked about potential solutions to the developing problem, Odinkalu said the CJN should stop engaging in any type of nepotism.
No matter how competent his son is, the Chief Justice shouldn’t be nominating him as a judge of a Federal High Court, he argued.
“Judicial appointments are not made by inheritance, and senior judges should quit engaging in insider trading.
“As a nation, we must say enough is enough. These kinds of accusations are being traded because the judiciary is being bought.”
