In his latest book, Nigeria: Past and Future, former President Olusegun Obasanjo delivers a scathing assessment of Nigeria’s judiciary, alleging it has been deeply compromised by corruption and political interference.
According to Obasanjo, the judicial system has experienced a serious decline, especially since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, and no longer functions as a true pillar of justice. He describes it instead as a “court of corruption rather than a court of justice.”
“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,” Obasanjo writes.
He insists that justice in Nigeria has been commercialized, available only to those who can pay for it. “Where ‘justice’ is only available to the highest bidder, despair, anarchy, and violence would substitute justice, order, and hope,” he warned.
Obasanjo recounts an encounter during a trip to a northern state, where a governor showed him six luxurious duplexes, allegedly built by a judge using proceeds from his role as chairman of election tribunals. For Obasanjo, this exemplifies the entrenched corruption within the judiciary.
The former president also directs criticism at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), accusing its chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, of sabotaging Nigeria’s democratic process since 2015. He claims the electoral body has manipulated outcomes and suppressed voters’ will, reducing elections to what he calls a “charade.”
“No matter what the will of the people may be, the Chairman of INEC since after the 2015 election had made his will greater and more important than the will of the people,” Obasanjo argues. “And worse still is the will of the judges – two out of three, three out of five corruptly overriding the will of millions of voters.”
He further criticizes the late President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing him of exploiting both the judiciary and political patronage to secure favorable judgments in his electoral disputes. According to Obasanjo, Buhari deployed financial inducements and offered appointments to judges in exchange for rulings in his favor.
“Buhari threw caution to the wind, no matter what had transpired between him and the judges who did his bidding. In his election cases, financially, he topped it up with appointments for them no matter their age and their ranks,” Obasanjo wrote.
He condemned the recurring pattern of electoral manipulation, where rightful winners are denied victory while undeserving candidates are declared successful, only for those cheated to be directed to what he bluntly calls a “court of corruption.”
The book, released by the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), serves both as a historical account and a forceful call for reform in Nigeria’s political and judicial institutions.
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