Says it’s now for mistresses, children of top Justices, politicians

How Justice Bulkachuwa smuggled their daughter into list

Former Chairman of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has in a trending video described appointments into judicial offices in Nigeria as ‘politicised’, a family matter, and jobs for mistresses of senior officers, reports Political Economist NG.

The video was excerpted from a Press conference on Thursday, 15th of June 2023, during which Odinkalu lamented the erosion of values in the appointment of judicial officers to bench.

He said this had affected judicial independence gravely as it is now a case of who you know, not merit.

In what looked like an expose, he said that of the 34 original nominees to the Bench, 23 were sons, daughters, mistresses and acquaintances of the top-ranking politicians and senior lawyers in the country.

He accused a particular senior member of the Bench (unnamed), of appointing his mistress who did not go through due process and who was never in the original list of shortlisted officers.

He also accused the Executive arm of government of working hand in hand with corrupt senior Benchers to alter the list and introduce their relations, children and mistresses.

He made allusion to the game of chess, claiming that judicial officers were akin to pawns in the political landscape, and are in high-demand by corrupt politicians. He censured the manipulative use of the Judiciary to secure highly coveted electoral positions, making reference to the case of Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa.

Political Economist NG recalls how the Senator said on the floor of senate that he used his wife’s influence as a Bencher to help his colleagues to win cases in court.

Odinkalu said: “In one particular case, there were 34 nominees. In that 34, all but 11 were sons, daughters, mistresses of particular individuals. In one particular case, there were 33 of them. I wrote the letter. I signed it in my name. I’m not anonymous so I can tell the story of what transpired. There were 33 nominees, then a senior judicial figure who was about to leave the Bench put his mistress in there, making them 34. She has not been interviewed. She has not gone through the process. I wrote to President Buhari and to his credit he suspended all the people that were objected to so we cleared the appointment of 11. Then something extraordinary happened. A senior Justice of the Supreme Court was retiring and managed to bring back the list to the NJC and he included the names of those 22 that were suspended and persuaded those persons who opposed the 22 not to attend the meeting of the NJC. And this particular Justice had their child on the list, he rushed to the President and all were approved and they are now sitting on the Bench including the daughter of Justice Bulkachuwa and Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa.”

The Professor of law famed for his integrity and frankness accused the judiciary of fraternizing with politicians and doing their bidding to truncate democratic process.

He condemned the Statement made by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Y.C. Maikyau SAN, on Thursday, 20 June 2023. In his words, the statement made by the NBA Chairman was a disgrace, as he lacked the locus standi to make such a Statement. He further derided the Statement as a disgusting cover up to blindside members of the public from the corruption in the Nigerian Judicial Council.

He suggested that the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria should be unbundled. He advocated for the diffusion of the omnibus powers of the CJN, thereby allowing transparency and accountability. He equally advocated same to be done with the NJC and the NBA.