A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba has lamented over Nigeria’s judiciary, calling on the National Assembly to dismantle the mafia at the Supreme Court.
The legal luminary who spoke at a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday urged the 10th Assembly to immediately address the problem of the survival of Nigeria, saying the legislature has the power to bring about a new constitution.
Agbakoba, while describing the nation’s “government structure as very weak,” said: “Many of you would realise that nothing works in this country. I mean, look at what happened in the elections. The judiciary, in my 45 years of practice, has never been as low as this. Even the Supreme Court, Justice John Okoro castigated the Appeal Court for a terrible judgment where they removed virtually everybody in the Plateau political system.
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“We can’t grow if we have a weak judiciary. And therefore, the only way to grow is to break up this mafia in the Supreme Court. It’s like saying, you know what, no woman in Nigeria shall be entitled to political office. That’s what they have done to us in the judiciary. No lawyer is entitled to attain the Supreme Court. It’s only them. They created a mafia, blocked us out, and appointed themselves. So they can’t be their best.
“So I recommended to the National Assembly to understand the difference between administration of justice and judicial administration. In respect to judicial administration, the National Assembly can intervene.”
Speaking on the continued unity of the country, Agbakoba insisted that nothing says that Nigeria must be one country.
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“It’s not sacrosanct that we must be one country. If in being one country, you have all the killings in Jos, in Abuja, everywhere, what’s the point of being one country?
“Quote me. If we continue on this path to deploy the military, deploy resources, and I don’t even know how much has been spent by the military in acquiring armaments, we can’t win. It’s a mistake. We cannot resolve our problem by military solution. It will not happen.
“So military options will not give Nigeria peace. That you can take from me. If it happens in two years, I’ll give you a free lunch. So the first thing we must do is to find a way to resolve our crisis.”