The founder of Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has alleged that the Nigerian judiciary is facing a profound crisis of corruption and ethical decay.
Bakare shared his concerns while speaking at the 22nd Chief Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture, themed “Integrity Deficiency in the Justice Sector: Whither the Legal Profession?”
He cited a report by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) Nigeria Corruption Index, revealing that between 2018 and 2020, about ₦3.7 billion was reportedly offered to judges as bribes.
According to him, lawyers and court staff were responsible for over 70 per cent of the falsified court documents.
The clergyman urged Nigerian lawyers and judges to emulate the late Fawehinmi to restore integrity and public trust in the country’s justice system.
The pastor, who once worked as a lawyer under Fawehinmi, warned that the judiciary is facing a deep crisis of corruption and ethical decay, with political influence, bribery, and selective justice undermining its role as a pillar of democracy.
Bakare said, “In the said report, the justice sector emerged as having the highest incidence of corruption. This underscores the systemic erosion of ethical and professional norms in the justice sector.
“The verdict is that a frightening proportion of Nigerian lawyers no longer have enough confidence in their skills to cross swords and successfully argue cases before judges, while some judges now see the bench as their ‘work-chop,’ that is, where they work is where they ‘chop.’
“The judiciary has become a marketplace where justice is for sale to the highest bidder.”
Recalling his experience with Fawehinmi, Bakare highlighted the legal icon’s values of punctuality, diligence, courage, and sense of responsibility.
“Diligence was another value that defined the career of Chief Gani Fawehinmi. Years before I qualified as a lawyer, while I was still a student of law at the University of Lagos, I started working part-time on weekends as a Research Assistant at Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers and had the privilege of working with him on the Nigerian Constitutional Law Reports.
“From that time to my attachment to his office during my year in the Nigerian Law School and to my days of working with him as a qualified lawyer, Chief Gani proved to be a hardworking lawyer who researched his cases with utmost diligence and demanded the same depth of rigour from his team.
“Diligence and integrity are inseparable. Lawyers who resort to cutting corners are those who lack the diligence required to get to the bottom of cases and prepare foolproof arguments that no adversary can withstand or gainsay,” the cleric added.