Farooq Kperogi, a US-based Nigerian professor and social commentator has further criticized Supreme Court over its judgment pronouncing Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmed Lawan as the rightful candidate for Yobe North despite not participating in the primary election.
The scholar was reacting to a press statement by the country’s apex court where his personality was ridiculed.
Supreme Court Machinates Machina, Affirms Lawal As Yobe North APC’s Flagbearer
In the statement signed by the court’s Director of Press And Information, Dr Festus Akande, Kperogi and other critics were warned to refrain from attacking judicial officers.
The supreme court noted that it is not a Father Christmas who gives out what was not asked for.
“No court in any clime is a Father Christmas; so, no one can get what he or she didn’t ask for,” the statement partly read.
‘JUDICIAL BANDITS’
Kperogi, making reference to the court’s ‘Father Christmas’ justification, alleged the court sell justice to the highest bidder. The scholar referred to the court’s conduct as “judicial banditry”.
“In other words, the Court is confessing that it doesn’t dispense justice to whoever deserves it; its “justice” is the exclusive preserve of people who, “ask for” it, which is obviously code for those who pay for it,” Kperogi said. “That’s straight-up judicial banditry!”
He opined that there is a difference between judgment and justice. “That’s why it’s customary to say that “judgment” and “justice” are not synonymous. Some judgements pervert justice. The Nigerian Supreme Court in the last few years has shown that it’s not in the business of dispensing justice; it only gives judgments to favour people who “ask for it” the “right” way. They are not the ‘Father Christmas’ of justice. They are wolfish judicial bandits who operate a judgment-for-sale racket with impunity,” he said.
