HURIWA to AGF: Corruption in Judiciary Can’t Be Hidden Like Pregnancy

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Following a caution by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, against attacks on the judiciary, a civil rights group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has urged the government to desist from living in denial about the pervasive corruption in the judiciary.
HURIWA said the menace of corruption, bribery and influence peddling in the justice sector was now like a nine months old pregnancy of an expectant mother that could not be hidden from public perception.

In a statement, the national coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, recalled that Fagbemi had warned politicians not to blackmail the judiciary by accusing judges of corruption on Friday while speaking to reporters at his residence in Ijagbo community, Kwara State.

Onwubiko said Fagbemi also appealed to politicians, who lost in the 2023 election not to throw caution to the wind and start blackmailing the judiciary.
HURIWA faulted the justice minister and reminded him of the corruption perception index of judges, which was unprecedented and unacceptably high.

HURIWA reminded the minister that his counterpart in the federal cabinet, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, had said publicly that he received a directive from President Bola Tinubu to allocate lands to judges and officials in other arms of the federal government.
The rights group told the justice minister that Wike made this known during a meeting with Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, where he pledged to put infrastructure in place before land allocation in the FCT.

HURIWA alleged that Tsoho had requested the minister to consider the judiciary in the allocation of lands.
Tsoho lauded Wike for supporting the judicial arm, noting that during his tenure as Rivers State governor, the well-being of judicial officers was prioritised.