By Gloria Fraser, MFR
When every other avenue of power has been exhausted, one institution must still be able to say No—to a President, a governor, a billionaire, a political party or even the anger of the crowd. That institution is the judiciary. It is the constitutional compass of democracy: political winds may change, governments may change direction and public passions may rise, but the needle must continue pointing towards the Constitution. Once power or money can move that needle, justice loses its direction and democracy begins to lose its soul.
Nigeria’s Great Reset must therefore be measured not only by roads, revenues and economic reform, but also by the strength of the institution entrusted with defending the law. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu captured the stakes before Nigerian judges in 2025: “Justice must never be for sale, and the Bench must never become a sanctuary for compromise.” He described judicial welfare, training and independence not as privileges but imperatives.
THE COMPASS MUST REMAIN INDEPENDENT
Nigeria’s constitutional order gives the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary distinct responsibilities. The Igbo proverb, “Egbe bere, ugo bere; nke si ibe ya ebena, nku kwaa ya”—let the kite perch and let the eagle perch; whichever denies the other the right to perch, may its wings break—offers an apt philosophy for separation of powers. Each arm must occupy its constitutional space without swallowing another.
The National Judicial Council expresses the principle more directly: “The independence of a Judge is sacrosanct and very necessary to impartial justice delivery.” Former Chief Justice Mahmud Mohammed similarly argued that judicial independence is ultimately a protection belonging to every citizen who comes before a court. Better funding and welfare should therefore liberate judges from vulnerability, never purchase loyalty. Tinubu’s judicial legacy will be strengthened, not diminished, by courts sufficiently independent to rule against his government whenever the Constitution requires it.
KEKERE-EKUN: LEADERSHIP AT THE CENTRE OF THE RESET
At the centre of this evolving judicial story stands Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, GCON, Nigeria’s second female Chief Justice. Her elevation was historically significant, but the more important question is what she is doing with the office. Under her leadership, judicial independence is increasingly being accompanied by an equally important principle: independence without accountability cannot command enduring public confidence.
The NJC under her chairmanship has demonstrated a willingness both to discipline judicial officers where necessary and protect judges against unsupported allegations. At its May 2026 meeting, the Council suspended two judges for one year without pay, dismissed 73 petitions lacking merit, commended nine judges and queried 256 others, while recommending 12 new Justices for the Court of Appeal. Her reform agenda has also embraced digitalisation and modern case management. Kekere-Ekun captured the necessary balance succinctly: “Technology is an instrument of justice; it can never become its substitute.” Technology may accelerate justice, but integrity must still determine its destination.
The Yoruba say, “Àgbà kì í wà lójà, kí orí ọmọ tuntun wọ́”—an elder cannot be present in the marketplace and allow a child’s head to remain crooked. Kekere-Ekun’s challenge is precisely that of institutional guardianship: correcting what is wrong without surrendering judicial independence to political pressure or public hysteria. Her tenure offers an opportunity to strengthen a culture in which discipline protects independence, technology improves access, merit strengthens appointments and transparency rebuilds trust. Former CJN Aloma Mukhtar’s insistence on “integrity, incorruptibility, fairness and transparency” provides an appropriate historical benchmark.
TRUTH, SPEED AND PUBLIC CONFIDENCE
The Hausa proverb “Gaskiya dokin ƙarfe ce, makaryaci ba zai hau ba” teaches that truth is an iron horse; a liar cannot ride it. Few institutions carry a greater responsibility for separating truth from allegation than the courts. Before the law, political office, wealth, ethnicity and party affiliation should confer neither advantage nor disadvantage.
Yet integrity alone is insufficient if justice arrives too late. Case backlogs, needless adjournments, expensive litigation and administrative inefficiency continue to weaken confidence. Digital filing, reliable electronic records, integrated case management and enforceable timetables should therefore become pillars of the Judiciary Reset. As President Tinubu observed, “Confidence is the lifeblood of justice.” That confidence is earned when citizens believe that the same law governs both the powerful and the powerless.
WHEN THE COURTS CONFRONT POLITICAL POWER
The Supreme Court’s July 2024 local-government autonomy judgment demonstrated the capacity of constitutional litigation to alter entrenched political arrangements. The Federal Government, through the Attorney-General, asked the Court to determine fundamental questions concerning state control over Nigeria’s 774 local governments. The judgment strengthened the constitutional and financial position of elected councils and challenged longstanding practices by governors.
Importantly, the dispute was taken to court rather than resolved through presidential decree. But a landmark judgment achieves little if implementation falters. Federal, state and local authorities alike must obey final judicial decisions even when politically inconvenient.
Rivers State provided an even more combustible constitutional test. The confrontation involving Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the State House of Assembly generated fierce partisan loyalties, but beneath the personalities were questions about legislative authority, appropriation and constitutional governance. Tinubu’s publicly stated position was clear: “This is a nation governed by the rule of law… once the court has spoken, that is it.”
That principle must apply regardless of political sympathies. A governor cannot manufacture a legislature convenient to him; a legislature cannot simply appropriate executive authority; and a President cannot substitute personal preference for constitutional adjudication. The Constitution is not a menu from which political actors select only provisions convenient to them.
THE UNFINISHED RESET
Nigeria’s judiciary still carries problems accumulated over decades: slow trials, conflicting orders, allegations of forum shopping, concerns about appointments and suspicions that influence sometimes distorts access to justice. A credible assessment must acknowledge them.
The task ahead is therefore clear: transparent appointments based on merit and character; firm NJC discipline; improved court administration; faster justice; adequate judicial welfare; and universal obedience to judgments. Tinubu can help provide the institutional conditions, but Kekere-Ekun and the judiciary must ultimately protect the integrity of the Bench. The law must remain greater than the people temporarily entrusted with power.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Political winds will always change. Presidents will come and go, governors will rise and fall, and today’s majority may become tomorrow’s opposition. But the constitutional compass must not change direction with them. A judiciary proves its independence not when everybody applauds its judgments, but when neither friendship, fear, money nor political power can move the needle.
— Princess Gloria Adebajo-Fraser MFR
NATIONAL PATRIOTS POSITION
National Patriots believes a strong and independent Judiciary is indispensable to President Tinubu’s wider national reset. We commend improved attention to judicial welfare and institutional capacity, recourse to the courts on major constitutional questions, and the increasingly assertive disciplinary and reform role of the NJC under Chief Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun. Her emphasis on accountability, institutional integrity and modernisation deserves support. These gains must deepen into faster justice, transparent appointments, uncompromising ethics and universal obedience to court decisions.
The measure of judicial independence is not whether judgments favour government or opposition, but whether every Nigerian—President or citizen, governor or governed, rich or poor—stands equal before the law. Tinubu’s enduring judicial legacy should be a stronger institution requiring no presidential protection because its integrity, independence and public confidence protect it.
When the powerful fear the law and the powerless trust it, the Judiciary Reset will have truly succeeded.
Princess Gloria Adebajo-Fraser MFR
President, The National Patriots
Former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan
Vice-Chairman Strategic Communications Committee Buhari PCC 2019.
Member, Strategy Committee, Presidency 2023.
