Professor Chidi Odinkalu, former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, has expressed strong concerns over the recent appointment of 12 judges to the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. In an interview with Channels Television From 42:00, Odinkalu alleged that the selection process was rigged and characterized by nepotism.
He pointed out that eight of the twelve appointed judges (over 60%) are children of recently retired judges, questioning the statistical probability of this occurrence. Odinkalu described the process as “mutual intercourse” between politicians and judges, where politicians rely on judges to gain office and judges rely on politicians for career advancement.
In his words;
“You look at the list that has been produced for these Judges, eight of them out of 12, over 60% are the children of recently retired Judges. How mathematically, statistically, how possible is that? So this is an utterly rigged process of mutual intercourse between politicians and judges. Politicians rely on the Judges to get them into office. The Judges rely on the Politicians to advance them into transactions. This is entirely what it is”….Seë_Morë