Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched a scathing attack on Nigeria’s judiciary and electoral system, accusing both institutions of being riddled with corruption and manipulation.
In his new book, Nigeria: Past and Future, Obasanjo said the judiciary has become “a court of corruption rather than a court of justice,” warning that the erosion of integrity within the system threatens national stability.
“The reputation of the Nigerian judiciary has steadily gone down from the four eras up till today.
The rapidity of the precipitous fall, particularly in the Fourth Republic, is lamentable,” he wrote.
Obasanjo cited an instance where a governor showed him six duplexes allegedly owned by a judge, said to have been acquired from proceeds made as chairman of election tribunals.
He argued that such cases reflect the depth of corruption eroding the justice system.
Turning his criticism to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Obasanjo accused its chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, of compromising elections since 2015.
“No wonder politicians do not put much confidence in an election which the INEC of Professor Mahmood Yakubu polluted and grossly undermined to make a charade,” he said, adding that tribunal, appellate, and supreme court judges have become the ultimate arbiters of electoral outcomes, often above the will of the people.
The former president also alleged that ex-President Muhammadu Buhari colluded with the judiciary in past election cases, rewarding judges who ruled in his favour with financial inducements and appointments.
“After a false declaration of results, making losers winners and winners losers, the victim of the cheating is advised to go to court, which is a court of corruption rather than a court of justice,” Obasanjo concluded.
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