FORMER Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has criticised the Supreme Court of Nigeria and other judicial bodies for what he described as a persistent tendency to elevate technicalities over substantive justice, saying the approach undermines public trust and weakens the very foundation of the legal system.
News Point Nigeria reports that Osinbajo, a professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), made the remarks on Thursday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, while delivering his keynote address at the Second Professor Yusuf Ali Annual Lecture organised by the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete.
In his lecture, the former Vice President argued that the primary purpose of any justice system is to serve the people, not to glorify rules or rigid procedures.
“The essence of any justice system is to serve the people, not to glorify procedural formalities,” Osinbajo said. “Our courts must rise above the obsession with technicalities that deny litigants justice.”
He lamented that several judicial decisions, including those of the Supreme Court, have leaned heavily on form rather than substance, a pattern he said contradicts global best practices.
Osinbajo cited examples from English courts, whose legal traditions Nigeria inherited, noting that those jurisdictions have long evolved to permit amendments at any stage to ensure fairness and prevent miscarriages of justice.
“Even the English courts, from whom we inherited much of our judicial culture, have since abandoned such rigidity. They now allow procedural corrections to ensure justice is done,” he added.
Osinbajo warned that Nigeria’s continued attachment to outdated proceduralism risks eroding public confidence in the judiciary, stressing that legal education, practice, and adjudication must be reformed to reflect modern realities and local peculiarities.
“It is time for our legal system to adopt critical and decolonised thinking,” he declared. “Legal practitioners, academics, and policymakers must collaborate to reform the way justice is taught, practiced, and delivered.”
He acknowledged that while the Supreme Court has occasionally adopted a more flexible approach—particularly in electoral disputes—such instances remain inconsistent and fail to establish a coherent philosophy of justice.
“A justice system that glorifies form over substance risks losing its relevance and effectiveness,” he warned.
In his own presentation, the guest lecturer, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu (SAN), former Chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), echoed Osinbajo’s sentiments and called for a total decolonisation of the legal system.
Delivering a paper titled “Towards Decolonising Legal Briefs: Effective Implementation of the Local Content Law for the Benefit of Nigerian Lawyers,” Odinkalu argued that Nigeria’s legal institutions and jurisprudence remain tethered to colonial ideologies.
“Though we are politically independent, we are still intellectually and occupationally dependent,” he said. “Our laws, court processes, and even legal reasoning often mirror foreign systems that do not reflect our realities.”
He urged Nigerian lawyers to embrace local content and intellectual sovereignty, arguing that judicial independence must also mean freedom from colonial legacies and imported frameworks.
“True decolonisation requires that our judiciary be independent, credible, and confident in applying laws that serve Nigerian society, not inherited systems that constrain innovation,” Odinkalu added.
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of KWASU, Prof. Jimoh Shaykh-Luqman, expressed appreciation to stakeholders for their contributions to the growth of the university’s Faculty of Law.
He announced that several major infrastructural projects, including a departmental complex, a 500-seat auditorium, and two 250-capacity lecture theatres would be completed and handed over by December 2025 to support the institution’s expanding academic programmes.
Eminent lawyer and sponsor of the lecture series, Prof. Yusuf Ali (SAN), commended the speakers and participants, urging Nigerians to confront systemic dysfunctions rather than romanticise the past.
“Every nation needs a rallying point, but sadly, we lack one,” Ali said. “The only time Nigerians appear united is during international football matches and even that unity fades quickly afterward.”
He urged citizens and leaders alike to work towards addressing the root causes of national disunity and institutional decay, describing the event as a call to national introspection and legal renewal.