Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Okutepa, has delivered a blistering critique of Nigeria’s governance, legal system and professional institutions, warning that corruption, impunity and institutional failure have pushed the country to a dangerous breaking point.
In a strongly worded post on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle, Okutepa said Nigeria’s development has been stunted by widespread corruption among those entrusted with power and responsibility, noting that the phenomenon has become deeply entrenched and largely unchecked.
“Most Nigerians in positions of power and responsibility are corrupt. The level of corruption and corrupt influences in governance in Nigeria has gotten to boiling point,” he wrote.
According to the senior lawyer, many individuals now seek public office primarily to loot and enrich themselves, a trend that has normalised sudden and unexplained wealth.
“That is why those who have no visible means of income get stupendously wealthy overnight and nobody asks questions,” he said.
Okutepa lamented that corruption and impunity have penetrated the very “fabric and DNA” of Nigerian society, including the youth, to the extent that honesty is now treated as an anomaly rather than a virtue.
“It is now seen as abnormal to be honest. Honest Nigerians suffer greatly in Nigeria. They are deprived of what honesty gives in other climes,” he stated.
He rejected the argument that Nigeria’s problems are imposed from outside, insisting that Nigerians themselves bear responsibility for the country’s predicament.
“The honest truth is that those who strangulated Nigeria from being a great country are Nigerians,” Okutepa declared.
Turning to the legal profession, the senior advocate said the Bar and the Bench, which should serve as beacons of hope, have in many instances failed to live up to that responsibility.
“In other climes, the Bar and the Bench are the beacons of hope. But in Nigeria, darkness seems to have outshined the light of the legal profession,” he said.
He revealed that some clients deliberately pressure lawyers to compromise the justice system, adding that resisting such inducements requires uncommon courage and integrity.
“Those who say no to such temptations are always branded as non-conformists and in most cases described as fools,” he noted.
Okutepa also raised serious concerns about the conduct of the judiciary, particularly at the apex court, warning that selective assumption of jurisdiction in politically sensitive cases fuels perceptions of judicial capture.
“When the Supreme Court chooses and picks which matters of grave constitutional and democratic concerns it can assume jurisdiction based on selective criteria that are not uniformly applied, there will be reasonable perceptions of judicial capture at the highest level,” he warned.
He questioned why the Supreme Court entertained suits brought by the Attorney-General of the Federation on issues such as local government autonomy and naira redesign, but reportedly declined jurisdiction when state attorneys-general challenged the declaration of a state of emergency or the withholding of local government funds.
“It beats the imagination of reasonable practitioners,” he said.
The senior advocate did not spare the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), querying its relevance, accountability and effectiveness in promoting the rule of law and protecting the welfare of lawyers.
“What is the value of NBA to the welfare and wellbeing of Nigerian lawyers? In what practical ways has NBA solved the lawlessness of legal practice in Nigeria?” he asked.
Okutepa further questioned whether internal politics within the NBA differ from conventional partisan politics, and whether the association has effectively enforced its own rules to restore the nobility of the profession.
“Is the politics in NBA today different from the politics of conventional politicians where anything goes?” he queried.
Concluding his intervention on a sombre note, Okutepa said Nigeria’s crisis reflects a collective failure, lamenting the depth of decay across institutions.
“Honestly, we resemble ourselves in Nigeria. I ask again, who will help Nigeria to be great? Even iron is rusting in Nigeria,” he wrote.
