A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Attahiru Jega says many judges ‘sold’ judgements on election matters to become rich.
“Some senior lawyers have become stupendously wealthy defending corrupt public officials or handling electoral litigation for governorship and presidential candidates. Similarly, many judges have become notorious for corrupt enrichment for ‘cash and carry’ judgments, especially in election matters generally and in election tribunals, more specifically,” Jega said in a lecture note obtained on Thursday.
The former vice-chancellor of Bayero University, Kano gave the lecture on Wednesday at the Owolabi Afuye Memorial Lecture organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ibadan Branch as one of the events to mark its 2021 Law Week.
Jega claimed that some of these corrupt judges sold judgments to the highest bidders and quickly retired to avoid being sanctioned by the National Judicial Council.
“Some election tribunal appointments were in the past widely said to have been made to senior judges about to retire, who allegedly ‘sold’ judgments, most likely to the highest bidders, enriched themselves and quickly retired to avoid being sanctioned by the National Judicial Council.
“When lawyers use technicalities to subvert justice and ‘win’ cases without regard to perpetration of injustices, they basically help to undermine, rather than enhance national development, peaceful coexistence and security,” he said.
