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• No one is above the law, Martins tells leaders
Former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said justice remains incomplete when governments fail to obey court judgments, warning that a system unable to deliver remedies to ordinary Nigerians entrenches poverty and undermines governance.
The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins, also challenged political leaders to submit to the laws they expect citizens to obey, stressing that public office is a trust and confers no immunity from accountability.
Both spoke at the annual lecture of the Anthony Cardinal Okogie Foundation in Lagos, where Osinbajo addressed “The Rule of Law and the Challenges of Executive Compliance.”
Calling for a people-centred justice system, Osinbajo said its true measure was whether citizens recovered their property, protected their rights and obtained court-ordered remedies.
“For the citizen who has secured a judgment against government, justice is not complete when the court pronounces its judgment or its decision. It is complete when government obeys it and the promised remedy becomes a reality.”
He urged Nigerians to look beyond executive compliance and confront whether the justice system delivered meaningful relief, noting that although most cases involved disputes between individuals and organisations, enforcing judgments remained a major obstacle.
Illustrating the human cost, he cited a widow allegedly dispossessed of her home and vehicle by her in-laws after her husband’s death; a teacher whose land was allegedly seized by land grabbers; and the widow of a bricklayer killed by a truck belonging to a major company.
For such people, he said, justice must restore homes, property, livelihoods and rights.
“For the widow, justice would simply mean getting her home back, getting her car back and being able to protect her daughters.”
Osinbajo warned that prolonged litigation and difficulties enforcing judgments constituted a developmental crisis, governance failure and moral problem.
“When the poor cannot access justice, poverty becomes permanent,” he said, adding that women, particularly in rural communities, often bore a disproportionate burden.
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Reflecting on the public life of Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, Osinbajo said his interventions showed a consistent commitment to constitutionalism, democracy, good governance and the rights of ordinary Nigerians.
He recalled Okogie’s legal challenge to the Lagos State Government’s takeover of mission schools shortly after Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1979. According to Osinbajo, the Court of Appeal eventually ruled in Okogie’s favour, holding that the right to establish and operate private schools was protected under freedom of expression because schools enabled ideas to be received and imparted.
He described the case as an early landmark of the new democratic era, adding that Okogie opposed oppression, injustice and abuse of power under successive military and civilian administrations.
“Government exists for people. Political authority is not an end in itself. It is a trust, and those who exercise it must be accountable for the welfare, dignity and rights of the people over whom they govern.”
Earlier, Martins said no political position, wealth, influence or social standing should place anyone above the law. He identified leaders’ refusal to submit to the laws they demanded citizens obey as a major threat to constitutional government and urged those in authority to respect the Constitution, court decisions, fundamental human rights and democratic institutions.
“For us as Catholics, respect for the rule of law is not merely a civic responsibility; it is also a moral responsibility,” he said.
The archbishop expressed concern over corruption, impunity, political interference, selective application of the law, disregard for due process and abuse of public office, urging Nigerians to resist indifference to injustice.
He stressed that citizens also had a duty to live with integrity, saying they could not condemn corruption in government while giving or receiving bribes.
“We cannot demand justice while supporting injustice because the offender belongs to our political party, family, ethnic group or religious community.”
Martins called for consistency between the values Christians professed in church and their conduct in society. He said Nigeria needed leaders of character, conscience and courage who would pursue truth and accept accountability.
He urged Nigerians to defend the vulnerable and work towards a country where nobody was above the law and leaders served rather than exploited the people.
