A group under the aegis of Access to Justice has written to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, saying Nigeria’s judicial accountability and transparency standards do not guarantee that the judiciary will live up to the expectations of Nigerians in the delivery of electoral justice.
The group in an open letter signed by its Convener, Joseph Otteh, lamented that there is wide public perception (including those of highly respected jurists) that election dispute resolutions in Nigeria create avenues for money laundering.
Access to Justice recalled that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in its recent study said over N9 billion was offered to judges (most of whom handled election petitions) within a space of three years, but in spite of the “unacceptably high incidence of corruption” associated with different cycles of electoral adjudication in Nigeria, the judiciary has not taken extra steps to strengthen the ethical framework for electoral dispute adjudication
