The Nigerian judiciary, long considered the “last hope of the common man,” finds itself at a historic and uncomfortable crossroads. The recent remarks by former Appeal Court President, Justice Isa Salami (retd), regarding Peter Obi’s 2023 election qualification, have done more than just reignite a political debate; they have pulled back the curtain on a systemic crisis of competence and technical consistency.
At the heart of Salami’s critique is a simple yet devastating question of documentation: the Labour Party membership register. Salami’s contention that a candidate must exist on the official register submitted to INEC 30 days before a primary is not merely a “lawyer’s quibble.” It is a fundamental argument for the rule of law over political expediency. If the register is the “mother of the membership card,” as Salami suggests, then a judiciary that ignores the absence of a name on that register is a judiciary that is, in his words, “countenancing” irregularity.
The Competence Gap
The Justice Isa Salami judiciary critique extends far beyond the 2023 ballot box. It touches on the very marrow of the bench. Salami’s revelation—that the promotion of inexperienced officers, such as higher registrars, directly to judgeships—is a chilling indictment of current recruitment standards. When “bad eggs” are not necessarily defined by their dishonesty, but by their “problem with learning,” the resulting “wrong verdicts” are not just mistakes; they are institutional failures that erode public trust.
We see this tragedy play out in the conflicting signals sent by our highest courts. While the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal initially “frowned” at membership irregularities in cases like that of Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf, the Supreme Court ultimately looked the other way. This judicial “flip-flopping” creates a landscape of legal uncertainty where the “internal affairs” of a party are used as a shield to bypass the clear dictates of the Electoral Act 2022.
Merit vs. Geography
Perhaps most damning is Salami’s observation that the path to the Supreme Court is increasingly paved by “zonal vacancies” rather than pure merit. In a system where seniority and experience are superseded by geographical quotas, the bench loses its intellectual edge. As Salami noted, the tragedy is that junior, less-experienced officers are being elevated over their superiors simply because their “zone” has a vacancy.
This is the crossroads. Nigeria can either continue down a path where “substantial justice” is used as a vague excuse for technical incompetence, or it can return to the rigorous, principled standards once championed by sages like Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the audacious Prof Wole Soyinka.
Way Forward
The Peter Obi 2023 election qualification debate is a symptom, not the disease. The real crisis is a register of a different kind: the register of our judicial values. To restore faith in the system, the National Judicial Council (NJC) must move away from the “zonal” promotion model and return to a meritocracy that rewards deep legal scholarship and practical experience.
If the judiciary fails to correct its internal compass, it risks becoming a mere rubber stamp for political actors who have mastered the art of exploiting “internal affairs.” For Reporters At Large, the message is clear: a judiciary that cannot settle its own register of competence can never truly settle the register of the nation.
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