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.
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