Nigeria: Justice, Where Are Thy Scales?

20 September 2011
opinion

The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust. The world crushes the dust under its feet, but the seeker after truth should so humble himself that even the dust could crush him. Only then, and not till then, will he have a glimpse of truth. Let hundreds like me perish, but let truth prevail. Let us not reduce the standard of truth even by a hair's breadth for judging erring mortals like myself. -M. K. Gandi

These are not the best of times for the judiciary in Nigeria. The law has been bottled by, surprisingly, its two high ranking custodians, and it seems to be helplessly gasping for a life saving breath. In the meantime, however, it would appear that it has been graciously uncorked and is taking the needed survival oxygen, with the lawful (unlawful?) suspension of the PCA, Justice Isah Ayo Salami, and the timely but coincidental retirement of the CJN, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu. We may think that the law has divinely intervened by itself and for itself, to save itself from further desecration in the public domain. Further, we may also innocently think that fighting does not take place in a vacuum.

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