Falana to Tinubu: Suspend vacation, save Nigeria from descent into anarchy

Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has called on President Bola Tinubu to suspend his vacation and urgently return to Nigeria, warning that the country is on the brink of anarchy due to the persistent disobedience of court judgments.

In a strongly worded statement issued on Friday, Falana accused the Nigerian government and some influential figures of treating court rulings with contempt, a trend he said undermines the very foundation of the rule of law.

“President Bola Tinubu should prevent the state from collapsing by suspending his vacation and halting the inexorable descent to anarchy and chaos in the country,” Falana stated.

Falana reserved his harshest criticism for the National Assembly, describing the Senate under the leadership of Senate President Godswill Akpabio as “the most notorious” when it comes to disregarding judicial verdicts.

According to him, “Judgments of courts are disobeyed by governments and powerful individuals. The most notorious institution is the Senate under the leadership of Senator Godswill Akpabio.”

He lamented that the Senate, which ought to uphold democratic values, has instead “treated court verdicts with disdain,” further eroding public confidence in the justice system.

The senior lawyer also charged the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take decisive action by developing concrete measures to curb the growing wave of judicial disobedience.

Falana warned that unless urgent steps are taken, the culture of impunity could worsen, deepening Nigeria’s governance crisis and weakening democratic institutions.