Olumide Akpata: Only by sheer luck can Nigeria’s judiciary produce good judge

Olumide Akpata, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), says it is only by sheer luck that the Nigerian judiciary can produce a good judge.

Speaking recently at the International Bar Association (IBA) conference in Paris, France, Akpata — who was chairman of the NBA between 2020 and 2022 — faulted the selection process of judges, describing it as “bizarre”.

“Because the kind of people who show up as judges have no business being there,” he said.

As president of the NBA, Akpata was granted statutory membership in the National Judicial Council (NJC), a body tasked with appointing and disciplining judges.

“For a good judge to emerge out of that process is by fluke only; sheer luck with judicial appointment in Nigeria. It is ridiculous,” he said.

“While I was president of the NBA, what I found out was that there is a deliberate attempt on the part of the political class in Nigeria to capture the judiciary. And that has very insidious consequences for the rule of law in Nigeria. It is deliberate and it is intentional. And it is achieving results for them.”

Akpata said the absence of financial autonomy and the impoverishment of Nigerian judges turn them into tools of the political elites.

He said “some chief judges kneel before the governors” to beg for funds, official vehicles or accommodations.

“When you know a man (judge) that knows the law but his judgement flies against the face of what the law should be, you know that there is something else motivating him or her,” the former NBA president said.

He said some judges live above their legitimate income and send their children to Ivy Leagues like Cambridge, Yale and Harvard.

Akpata said the IBA, as the global body of the legal profession, “has a role to play in dealing with what I call the judiciary capture”.

He said what happens in Nigeria has wider implications for the world.

Responding, an official of the IBA promised to consider Akpata’s concerns.

“What I am going to commit to you is that the IBA will put our minds together on whether a statement on the situation should come from the IBA,” the IBA official said.