Adegboruwa Asks FG to Declare State of Emergency in Judiciary

A human rights lawyer, Mr. Ebun Adegboruwa, yesterday backed the claim of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Muhammad that the judiciary in the country was not truly independent.

Adegboruwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the judiciary with a mandate to make it truly independent.

He canvassed the position in a response to THISDAY inquiry noting that the best way “to describe the judiciary is to say that judges are weeping and they are weeping very profusely.”

The CJN had warned governments at all levels to allow the judiciary to enjoy its independence without undue interference, noting that the judiciary would never be subservient to anybody.

He had at the inauguration of 38 new SANs maintained that the judiciary under his watch will uphold the tenets of the constitution as the supreme law of the land

He had lamented that despite the fact that the 1999 Constitution provided for separation of powers and independence of the three arms of government, he continued to go cap in hand to beg for funds to run the judiciary, a situation he said had impacted negatively on the administration of justice in the country.

He said it was time for the judiciary to take its destiny in its hand, insisting that the judiciary would borrow “a leaf from other climes where things are done rightly so that we do not keep repeating the same mistake and expect to make progress in our administration of justice.”

Backing CJN’s claim, Adegboruwa acknowledged that the judiciary “is not independent given that judges have to go cap in hand to the executive, for fund. He who pays the piper must surely dictate the tune.”