…Stresses end to prioritising technicalities over substantive justice
Former Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has stressed the urgent need for a critical and fundamental restructuring of the Nigeria’s legal and judicial philosophy.
Osinbajo specifically noted that the Supreme Court of Nigeria has occasionally been flexible, especially in electoral matters, stressing that “inconsistency remains a major concern.”
The professor of law warned that it is important to note that a justice system that glorifies form over substance risks losing its relevance and effectiveness.
This was as he lamented what he described as “the present disturbing tendency” of courts giving priority to technicalities over substantive justice, emphasising that the essence of any justice system is to serve the people and not to glorify procedural formalities.
Osinbajo, who stated these at the second Professor Yusuf Ali’s Annual Lecture organized by the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, Ilorin, Kwara State, noted with concern that many judicial decisions, including those of the Supreme Court, frequently leaned towards form rather than substance.
The former vice president noted that even the English courts, whose practices Nigeria inherited, have evolved beyond such rigid technicalities by allowing amendments at any stage to ensure that justice is done.
In the words of Osinbajo; “Nigeria’s continued attachment to outdated technicalities undermined justice and eroded public trust in the judiciary.
“Legal practitioners, academics, and policymakers should adopt critical, decolonised thinking to reform legal education, legal practice, and the administration of justice” he said.
In his won remarks, the Guest lecturer, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, SAN, tasked Nigerian lawyers and law students to confront and dismantle the lingering colonial legacies embedded in the nation’s legal system.
Speaking on the topic; “Towards Decolonising Legal Briefs: Effective Implementation of the Local Content Law for the Benefit of Nigerian Lawyers, Odinkalu, noted that Nigeria’s justice system is still hooked to the rest of the world, saying that it was time to transition from political independence to ideation independence by promoting local content, stating that although Nigeria is politically independent, we lack occupational independence.
Odinkalu, a professor of Practice and International Human Rights Law, said that the country’s legal framework still “bore the imprint of the colonial intrusion which needs to be urgently changed.
He said; Emphasis should be more on the need to build an “independent and credible judiciary” as a core part of the decolonization process.
Speaking in turn, Professor Yusuf Ali said that all nations must have a rallying point which Nigeria currently lacked, adding that the only time Nigerians truly become united is during international football matches, a “fleeting moment of togetherness that quickly faded afterward.”
Ali therefore urged citizens to confront the reality of systemic failures instead of romanticizing the past, noting that the country still “exhibited all the parameters of failure.”
