Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s administration for handing over houses to judges, describing the gesture as discriminatory, illegal and inconsistent with the constitutional principle of equality before the law.
Falana said while judicial officers deserve decent accommodation and adequate security to perform their duties, singling them out for special treatment without extending similar benefits to other public servants amounts to unequal treatment before the law.
Speaking at a public event, the senior lawyer questioned the legal basis for the government’s action.
“We have got to a stage in this country where we need to challenge the special privileges given to the rich and top public officers in the country,” he said.
“Yesterday, I was watching the TV, I was very sad when I saw that the federal government was handing over keys of houses to judges and I asked myself, under what law are we operating because it is discriminatory and illegal.”
According to Falana, Nigeria has reached a point where preferential treatment for political office holders and other privileged public officials must be challenged.
He stressed that although judges are entitled to secure and comfortable accommodation, other citizens who equally render essential services to the nation should not be overlooked.
“You must treat equals equal in our country, so you can’t take out judges. Judges are entitled to accommodation. They must live comfortably and they must be well secured, but other citizens must be equally provided for.
“If you don’t do it, you can be challenged and that is going to happen very soon because what is good for the goose is good for the gander.”
Falana also cited university professors as an example of public servants whose welfare has received inadequate attention despite their contributions to national development.
“If you have a professor who also has to render services to the society and those professors are not paid well, nobody talks of providing houses for them. These days, there are not enough quarters for them, so we must also look at that,” he said.
He further criticised the multiple benefits enjoyed by former governors serving in the National Assembly, arguing that such privileges contrast sharply with the conditions of career civil servants.
“If former governors in the National Assembly are taking salaries and jumbo allowances and are also entitled to houses in their states and another house in Abuja, while a civil servant who has worked for 35 years is simply retired, then we must insist that equality before the law in our country is respected,” he stated.
Falana maintained that the principle of equality before the law should guide government policies and warned that any discriminatory policy conferring exclusive benefits on a select group of public officials could face legal challenge.
The comments followed the announcement by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, that newly inaugurated residential quarters built for judges of the FCT High Court would be allocated on an owner-occupier basis, subject to the approval of President Bola Tinubu and the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
The houses are part of projects inaugurated to mark President Tinubu’s third anniversary in office. Wike also announced plans to expand judicial infrastructure in the FCT through the construction of additional courts and more housing for judges.
