Mike Ozekhome has said the judiciary is key to a stable Nigeria.

Mr Ozekhome said this on Thursday in Abuja at the 2024 Conference of the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents (NAJUC).

According to him, Nigeria may collapse without a functional judiciary system. He charged the judiciary to live up to expectations and ensure that their judgements reflect justice and are not based on technicalities.

Speaking on the role of courts in enforcing judgments, the law professor said court orders must be obeyed until set aside by a higher court.

He said the courts held a balance of scale between feuding parties; otherwise, there might have been chaos in the country. He also said the court was critical in ensuring that judgements were enforced and complied with.

He advised judges to avoid attending occasions organised by politically exposed persons with cases before them, just as he urged them to eschew corruption under any guise.

“I still want to believe at this point that in spite of all the issues the judiciary may have, it still remains the best of the three arms of government. If you remove the judiciary, Nigeria will collapse like a pack of cards. 

“The role of the courts is very sacred in the functioning of  society and must be held with the highest esteem,” he said.

According to him, the time has now come for Judges to form an association to defend themselves against unfounded allegations. He advocated the establishment of a ‘National Association of Serving Judges’ so that judges could defend themselves.

He called on lawyers to resist the temptation of writing incessant petitions against judges, urging them to appeal the cases instead.

Earlier,  the chairman of NAJUC, Kayode Lawal, said that the annual conference was part of efforts to keep judiciary correspondents up to date.

“After the last edition of this conference, we noted with great concern the ugly trend in the court-of-court jurisdictions, easily conflicting decisions and orders on virtually the same issues and parties.

“It is worrisome, sad, and regrettable that the ugly development has continued to exist in spite of warnings from here and there,” Mr Lawal said.

(NAN)