LNigeria’s outspoken Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Okutepa, has launched a blistering attack on the state of the nation’s judiciary, accusing some judges of turning courts of law into “weapons of oppression” instead of temples of justice.
In a strongly worded post on his X handle on Sunday, Okutepa said the country’s justice system is collapsing under the weight of corruption, compromise, and blatant abuse of power by those meant to protect the innocent.
“There is an urgent need for institutions of justice in Nigeria to wake up and give hope to the hopeless,” he said. “Nigerians, the users of these institutions, are now hopeless. In those days, when anyone was oppressed, they ran to the courts for protection. But today, some judges have become instruments of persecution rather than justice.”
Okutepa did not mince words. He accused certain judges of abandoning their constitutional duties and oaths of office to serve as “willing tools” for powerful individuals determined to silence, punish, or illegally detain innocent citizens.
“Some of these judges have become available instruments to unjustly keep Nigerians in prison custody,” he lamented. “As we speak, there are no immediate remedies for victims of judicial persecution. Judges can’t be sued for judicial acts, and so Nigerians are at the mercy of their wickedness.”
The fiery SAN said the behavior of some judicial officers has reached “alarming levels,” with many now openly displaying bias in court and acting like “judicial emperors” who choose sides depending on where their interest lies.
“Contrary to the principles that judges must remain detached and impartial, these ones now act with visible partiality,” he said. “They conduct proceedings in ways that show they’ve already taken sides — with prosecutors or defendants, depending on where they stand.”
Okutepa cited instances where judges disregard constitutional provisions, especially in cases involving the Attorney-General’s powers under Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution.
“When the Attorney-General applies to take over or discontinue a criminal case, the judge must strike it out and discharge the accused,” he explained. “But some judges, out of arrogance or bias, adjourn such cases for flimsy reasons that defy logic and justice.”
The legal icon warned that public trust in Nigeria’s justice system is hanging by a thread.
“Nigerians are worried that the golden days when the judiciary stood firmly for justice are gone,” Okutepa wrote. “We must do everything to restore confidence in our justice system. The way some judges behave today causes irreparable damage to the judiciary’s integrity.”
He called for an urgent shake-up within the legal system, demanding that the National Judicial Council (NJC) and Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) deploy monitoring teams across courts to expose and discipline erring judges.
“The leadership of the judiciary must set examples with those who abuse their powers,” Okutepa warned. “When a judge keeps adjourning an application meant to set an accused person free, people will rightly assume bias. It is wrong — and it’s killing justice in Nigeria.”
With rising cases of arbitrary detentions and politically motivated trials, Okutepa’s fiery outburst has rekindled debate over the shrinking space for justice and fairness in Nigeria’s courtrooms.
