‘Nigerian Justice System Should be Insulated from Partisan Meddling’

In the wake of conflicting court orders from courts of coordinate jurisdiction, the Director General of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), Dr. Salihu Lukman, has said that the Nigerian justice system should be insulated from unethical partisan influences.

Lukman said that the need to sanitise the Nigerian judiciary should be broadened to ensure that judges with underlying political interests would not preside over political cases where their interests would conflict with their judicial responsibilities.

In the last couple of days, courts of coordinate jurisdiction, have, in a number of political cases, been issuing conflicting and counteracting interim orders, directing political party officers either to vacate, or resume office and also ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise one political aspirant or the other as party’s flagbearer for forthcoming elections.

In a statement titled, “Nigerian Democracy and Challenges of Nation Building,” yesterday Lukman said that the rule of law would be undermined once the Nigerian judiciary is compromised.

He said that Nigerian democracy is imperiled to the extent that even the routine issue of day-to-day management of political parties in Nigeria has moved to the courts.

He said: “Our common purpose as a nation must be to enthrone high ethical conducts, especially in our judicial institutions. The integrity of judges must be revered such that the Nigerian justice system is insulated from partisan meddling, which then undermines fairness in granting orders by Nigerian courts with respect to political cases.