THE recent spectacle in an Abuja Federal High Court—where a judge, in a fit of pique, ordered a defense lawyer to kneel like a truant schoolboy—is not merely a breach of protocol. It is a symptom of a terminal illness.
When Justice Mohammed Umar traded his judicial temperament for the aesthetics of a feudal lord, he pulled back the curtain on a Nigerian judiciary that many believe has transitioned from the last hope of the common man to the stumbling block of a nation.
The 1381 Precedent: When Society Rejects the Law
In 1381, during England’s Peasants’ Revolt, the masses didn’t just protest for lower taxes; they hunted lawyers. They burned the Temple in London and targeted judges because they viewed the legal profession as a sophisticated machine designed to manufacture poverty and protect the elite.
Nigeria finds itself at a similar crossroads. For decades, the Nigerian judiciary, alongside a complicit Bar, has been accused of holding the nation by the scruff of the neck. Through unbridled grafts, technicalities that shield looters, and a highest-bidder system of justice, the legal class is increasingly seen not as the guardians of the constitution, but as the architects of Nigeria’s stagnation.
*Judicial Rascality and the ‘Laughing Stock’ Syndrome*
The rascality being witnessed today is multifaceted with the market of injunctions where conflicting court orders are sold to the highest political bidder, paralyzing the democratic process.
Cases of systemic corruption that should take months are dragged into decades by lawyers specialized in dilatory tactics and judges who tolerate them. The order for a lawyer to kneel is a physical manifestation of a judiciary that has lost its humility and, by extension, its legitimacy. When the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) describes a judge’s order as “outside the bounds of law,” they are admitting that the temple of justice is being desecrated from within.
*The Case for a ‘Systemic Reset’*
The prompt for a 14th-century style “public humiliation” reflects a visceral public hunger for accountability. While modern human rights frameworks forbid the executions of 1381, the spirit of that demand is clear: Nigeria’s judiciary requires a radical, scorched-earth reform.
Judges and lawyers found guilty of graft should not just be “retired” or “suspended” with their benefits intact. They should face the full weight of public trial and asset forfeiture. Most importantly, the National Judicial Council (NJC) must stop acting as a brotherhood of silence and start operating as a transparent disciplinary body. Alongside with that, NJC and NBA should ensure that lawyers who specialize in subverting justice through frivolous technicalities must be permanently debarred.
History teaches us that when the law becomes a tool for oppression rather than a shield for the innocent, society eventually seeks redemption through chaos. The 14th-century United Kingdom treatment was a desperate response to a broken system.
Nigeria stands at a precipice. If the judiciary continues to be a laughing stock where justice is a commodity for the highest bidder, it will eventually face a reckoning that no gavel can silence. To reset the nation, we must first reset the courts. The wig and gown must either represent integrity—or they will inevitably become the targets of a frustrated populace.
Dr. Drama, PhD Counterterrorism contributed this piece via: Nigeriandrama@gmail.com
