“Judiciary, Now For Big Shots” – AGF

By Ayodele Oni

Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has said that the less privileged persons no longer have access to justice in the country.

He maintained that judiciary was fast losing its appellation of the being the last ‘hope of the common man’ to that of the big shots in the society.

Fagbemi, who stated this at the ground breaking ceremony of the N37 billion Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal Complex, stressed that the judiciary has become the foe of the common man and now the friend and hope of the politicians and other influential people in the country.

The Attorney General, however, expressed the hope that the Appeal Court complex would be used for the truth and the protection of people’s rights.

In the words of Fagbemi, “Gone were those days when the judiciary was regarded as the last hope of the common man. I take objection to it. It is the big people now who patronize the judiciary, not even the common man.

“If you have any doubt, the election is approaching, come and see the way, with all due respect, some people behave like rain-beaten chickens. Forgive me, I don’t mean to be rude.

“So, the judiciary is no longer the last hope of the common man alone, it is also, or majorly now, the last hope of the big shots.

Earlier, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved N30 billion of the N37 billion in the 2024 budget for the structure, adding that the project would be delivered by September 2025.