2027: CJN warns judges against bias, lawyers against forum Shopping

By Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has warned judges against conduct suggesting political alignment and cautioned lawyers against manipulating the judicial process for partisan or strategic purposes ahead of the 2027 elections.

Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday at the 2026/2027 Legal Year ceremony of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), she said some judges may be called upon to serve on Election Petition Tribunals, where they would determine “politically sensitive disputes which attract considerable public attention”.

“The nature of such assignments therefore demands an even greater degree of impartiality, restraint and detachment,” she said.

Justice Kekere-Ekun said judges’ conduct would be closely scrutinised, whether they were sitting in the industrial court or on election tribunals. Nothing in their associations, public engagements or other conduct, she stressed, should create “a reasonable perception of political alignment or predisposition”.

She also cautioned lawyers against pursuing proceedings in different courts or divisions in search of a favourable outcome, saying the temptation “must be resisted”.

Parallel proceedings capable of producing conflicting orders, she said, undermine public confidence and expose the judiciary to avoidable embarrassment.

“The proper forum is determined by law, not by the perceived likelihood of success before a particular Judge or court,” she said.

The CJN stressed that the Bar must never become an instrument for manipulating the judicial process for partisan or strategic purposes.

On public commentary, she said the right to criticise judgments did not extend to personal attacks on judges, deliberate misrepresentation of proceedings or attempts to pressure courts through public opinion. Genuine concerns about judicial conduct, she added, should be channelled through appropriate institutional avenues.

Justice Kekere-Ekun also warned judges and lawyers against uncritical reliance on artificial intelligence, noting that AI could generate seemingly authoritative answers, complete with parties, citations and quotations, while referring to cases that did not exist.

She said lawyers who filed unverified or non-existent authorities risked misleading the court and compromising their clients’ cases. The fact that an error originated from AI, she stressed, did not diminish a lawyer’s professional responsibility.

Every authority, she said, must be independently located, read and verified before being cited.

For judges, she said judgments could not safely rest on unverified authorities, adding that AI “cannot assume the judicial responsibility of determining what the law is”.

She also urged caution about entering confidential case materials into AI systems whose security could not be assured.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, commended the court’s electronic filing and service system, saying it placed the NICN among Nigeria’s leading institutions in the use of technology for justice administration.

Represented by the Director of Civil Appeal, Tijani Gazali, Fagbemi said the value of the court’s new headquarters would be measured by “the quality, efficiency and fairness of the justice administered” within it.

He identified delay as an enduring challenge, particularly in employment disputes, where workers whose employment had been terminated and their employers faced prolonged uncertainty.

Technology, he said, must be complemented by effective case management, adequate personnel, professional discipline and cooperation between the Bench and the Bar.

In his welcome address, NICN President, Justice Benedict Kanyip, said the court disposed of 2,236 cases across its divisions in the past 12 months, significantly reducing its historic backlog.

He said the court remained committed to accessibility, professionalism and the use of innovation and technology to improve justice delivery.