JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA 1999: MYTH OR REALITY?

Abstract

The recent ugly developments in Nigeria with regards to the judiciary have called into serious question the independence of the judiciary in Nigeria. It is pertinent to ask whether judicial independence in Nigeria is a myth or actually a reality. If it is not a fiction, how then can the travail of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen CJN, who was single-handedly removed by President Muhammadu Buhari for alleged breach of the Code of Conduct, be explained? Indeed, can the President suspend the Chief Justice of Nigeria without the input of the judiciary and the legislature? What will be the explanation for the nocturnal arrest of some superior court Judges by operatives of the DSS without recourse to the National Judicial Council? Does any of the provisions of Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) relating to the independence of the judiciary make real meaning with the desired kind of impact? With these troubling questions, it then becomes pertinent to interrogate the independence of the Judiciary in Nigeria. If judicial independence is important to the growth of democracy in Nigeria, recent events calls into question how independent the judiciary really is. If the independence of the judiciary is fictional and not real, there is a need for a new thinking on how to make the judiciary autonomous to be a true bastion of democracy in Nigeria. This is the focus of this article.