Tag: justice-system

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Nigerian Lawyers in Political Careers: A Historical, Structural, and Contemporary Analysis

The intersection of law and politics in Nigeria is profound and longstanding. Lawyers have disproportionately shaped the country’s political landscape, from pre-independence nationalism to post-1999 democratic governance. Legal training emphasizing advocacy, constitutional interpretation, negotiation, evidence-based reasoning, and oratory equips practitioners exceptionally well for political roles. This pattern reflects both the profession’s prestige and Nigeria’s constitutional emphasis on legal expertise in governance.

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The Ghost Who Keeps Signing by Lawson Akhigbe

The Land Use Act of 1978 vested radical title to land in the state governor. Customary authorities were meant to operate within that framework, not around it. Yet when the formal system becomes a source of frustration rather than facilitation, human ingenuity finds other routes. Enter the late Oba. His name carries historical weight. The palace, however, maintains no functional modern archive capable of systematic verification. Oral history is the dominant method, and most of the original participants are no longer available for cross-examination. The result is a paper trail that is difficult to audit and easy to exploit.

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Anarchism in judicial robes, by Owei Lakemfa

My mind raced back to British jurist, Lord Denning who famously declared in 1964: “Justice has no place in darkness or secrecy. When a judge sits on a case, he himself is on trial… If he is suspicious, biased, or unfair, then the judge is the one who is condemned in the eyes of public opinion.” But these words of wisdom seem not to have any meaning to Justice Lifu, shockingly, a former lecturer of Public and International Law, University of Ibadan. For me, what was more distressing was that despite the uproar, Justice Lifu seemed oblivious of the damage he    had done to the body polity, the judiciary and his thirty five years post-call to bar history.

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Uncounted in Life, Unrecorded in Death: Nigeria’s Costly Dignity Deficit By Lawson Akhigbe

here is an old, bitter administrative joke in Nigeria that you are only formally counted twice: never when you arrive, and certainly not when you leave. In between, your existence is largely an unverified rumor negotiated between your creator, your luck, and whatever age declaration affidavit you paid a court clerk two thousand Naira to stamp.

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The Nigerian Police Force: A Colonial Machine That Never Changed by Lawson Akhigbe

To understand the modern Nigerian Police Force, one must first understand its origins. The uncomfortable truth is that the institution was never created to protect ordinary Nigerians. It was established to protect the interests of those who ruled Nigeria, first the British colonial administration and later the Nigerian political elite that inherited the colonial state.

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