Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has challenged the judiciary to protect its independence by fighting corruption within the system.
Osinbajo who said this at the 2016 Fellows Lecture and Conferment of Honourary Fellowship on him and three others by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), in Abuja maintained that corruption threatens the independence of the judiciary.
He said, “But, (and this is fundamental), it is to protect judicial independence that we must fight corruption’’,
“It is the essence of our system of justice. A judge must be independent for at least one reason: so that he or she can be fair and just, without fear or favour.
“This is why the executive must neither interfere in judicial process nor attempt to compromise judicial independence in any way.’’
The Vice President said those in the legal profession owed themselves a duty to preserve the administration of justice system.
“Not only because it is the last hope of the common man but because this is our means of livelihood.
“Our profession and the credibility of the administration of justice system depend entirely on public confidence.
“Once that is eroded because of the delinquency of a few, we, the majority must fight hard against it’’, he added.
“In all the serious researches on the best known administration of justice systems, it is evident that at various points in their histories, the institutions were challenged by falling standards, corruption, and abuse of office.
“When this occurred, the profession itself had often made the first and farthest drastic moves to self-correct.’’
“Nobody wants to be held responsible for possibly ending the career of another.
“So, we watch the decay and gradual collapse of an excellent tradition built on the self-restraint, sacrifices and integrity of many in the past 100years.’’
