The Catholic Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Lagos, Most Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins has enjoined the judiciary to initiate reforms to nip in the bud, the menace of conflicting judgments and abuse of interim injunctions. This is coming on the heels of recent events of contradictory and counter-orders from various courts despite the principle that courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction should not overrule one another.
Archbishop Martins made this statement while responding to questions by reporters that borders on the Nigerian legal system currently being threatened by the frequent contradictory and conflicting court judgements which questions the authenticity and justifiability of legal justice in the Nigerian courts. This was on the occasion of the priestly ordination held by the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos on October 31, 2024 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, Onireke, Lagos. He said, “Well, for me, it just simply means that the judiciary needs to get its acts together.
There is need to do some reforms in the whole judicial setup such that the kind of lapses that give rise to this sort of situation of contradictory judgements will be addressed. “Sometimes, people attribute such contradictory judgements to corruption. True or false, I’m not in a position to say. Whatever it is, it is necessary for the judiciary to rediscover itself in order that people can have greater trust and confidence in its judgement.” According to the prelate, addressing the issue would restore public trust and ensure judicial efficiency.
The Archbishop also charged government to reduce cost of governance and make sacrifices that people can see to substantiate the plea by the presidency to Nigerians to continue to endure hardship. “I believe that in the first instance, the leadership needs to show that it is necessary to make sacrifices, by themselves making sacrifices that people can see, that people can feel that they are making. It was in that context that I was talking about the budget of an office being greater or higher than the internally generated revenue of some particular states.
Of course, I don’t know what it is in the presidency. I don’t know what it is in the National Assembly. But it is necessary that there should be some scaling down of the expenses that go on as a sign that indeed, people need to make sacrifices,” he said. Archbishop Martins however, advised Nigerians not to lose hope in the face of the challenges in the country.
