Mr Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, said he was the country’s largest benefactor of the judiciary when there were incorruptible judiciary.
Obi said this at Justice Anthony Aniagolu’s Memorial Lecture, which was sponsored by the family and hosted by Godfrey Okoye University in Enugu on Tuesday.
He was delivering a lecture about the subject, “The Judiciary and the Future of Nigeria,” Obi said he won in the Anambra State election, despite the fact that another candidate had been declared the winner, and he sought justice in court.
He said:
“I spent three years in court and it was given to me, and after a few months, I was impeached but the judiciary restored me to power. After one year in office, they conducted another election and elected another person.
“But I went to the Supreme Court, where judges, with respect for the rule of law, reinstated me to complete my tenure.
“All these things happened because there were incorruptible and independent judges.”
The former Anambra governor, who remarked that such jurists were difficult to find in present-day Nigeria, stated:
“Our judiciary is weak and compromised by the executive and highest bidder.”
According to him:
“The future of our society is compromised because the independence of the judiciary has been destroyed.
“We need a strong judiciary to fight criminality. The rule of law is the foundation on which any society survives and develops and the only thing that makes it sacrosanct is the independence of the judiciary. And it is a strong judiciary that makes businesses, investments and democracy thrive.
He stated that the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, was not Nigeria’s problem, but rather the judiciary, to which people denied their rights turned but were disappointed.
cc: Daily Post Ng
