09/07/2026
The immortal words of Niki Tobi in the landmark case of Buhari v Yaradua.
While giving his judgment in that case 19 years ago, Niki Tobi had foreseen the calamity that may befall the Judiciary if allowed to be infiltrated by politicians.
So he dedicated a very long paragraph advising judges.
He made this long dictum saying:
“I see from Exhibit EP2/34 the need for Nigerian Judges to maintain a very big distance from politics and politicians.
Our Constitution forbids any mingling. As Judges, we must obey the Constitution.
The two professions do not meet and will never meet at all in our democracy in the discharge of their functions.
While politics as a profession is fully and totally based on partiality, most of the time, judgeship as a profession is fully and totally based on impartiality, the opposite of partiality.
Bias is the trade mark of politicians. Non-bias is the trade mark of the Judge.
That again creates a scenario of superlatives in the realm of opposites.
Therefore the expressions, "politician" and "Judge" are opposites, so to say, in their functional contents as above; though not in their ordinary dictionary meaning.
Their waters never meet in the same way Rivers Niger and Benue meet at the confluence near Lokoja. If they meet, the victim will be democracy most of the time and that will be bad for sovereign Nigeria.
And so Judges should, on no account, dance to the music played by politicians because that will completely destroy their role as independent umpires in the judicial process.
Let no Judge flirt with politicians in the performance of their constitutional adjudicatory functions.
When I say this, I must also say that I have nothing against politicians. They are our brothers and sisters in our homes.
One can hardly find in any Nigerian community or family without them. There cannot be democracy without them and we need democracy; not despotism, oligarchy and totalitarianism. They are jolly good fellows.
The only point I am making is that their professional tools are different from ours and the Nigerian Judge should know this before he finds himself or falls into a mirage where he cannot retrace his steps to administer justice. That type of misfortune can fall on him if the National Judicial Council gets annoyed of his conduct.
Ours are not theirs. Theirs are not ours. I will not say more. I will not say less too. So be it.”
Niki Tobi, JSC.
It Appears that the advice given by Niki Tobi about 2 decades ago fell on deaf ears.
Levi Nwangele, Esq, AICMC.✍️✍️✍️
