THE refusal of the Cross River State Government to pay 29 magistrates in the state 26 months’ salary arrears is an unjust and undeserved assault on the judicial arm of government in the state. Every lover of democracy and good governance in Nigeria should therefore be genuinely outraged and disconcerted by that perfidious development in Cross River because no arm of government should be systematically weakened, deliberately or inadvertently, by the other in the performance of its statutory duties. How then can the Cross River magistrates maintain impartiality in the discharge of their judicial functions when the executive is recklessly kneeling on their necks? Indeed, the trauma of the Cross River magistrates represents a metaphor for how the executive arm of government sees the judiciary in fragile democracies: an institution that can be pauperised through the deliberate weakening of its institutional capacity to operate optimally. The Nigeria Bar Association should show more than a passing interest in the unfolding show of shame in Cross River State.

Source: Punch April 17, 2021 23:26 UTC