‘They are the mob,’ Aisha Yesufu reacts to CJN’s comment that judiciary can’t be mobbed

Good governance activist, Aisha Yesufu, has reacted to comment by the Chief Justice Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, that the judiciary won’t be overwhelmed by the sentiments of the “mob.”

Ariwoola had said at a special session of the 2023/2024 legal year and the swearing-in of 58 newly conferred Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) that, “I expect every judicial officer to work very hard and also be very honest and courteous to the litigants, witnesses and members of the bar, and discharge all your judicial functions with all the humility at your command.

“Even while doing this, it is still necessary to have at the back of your minds that public opinions, sentiments or emotions can never take the place of the law in deciding the cases that come before you.

“The law remains the law, no matter whose interest is involved. In all we do, as interpreters of the law, we should endeavour to severe the strings of emotion from logic and assumption from fact.

“We should never be overwhelmed by the actions or loud voices of the mob or crowd and now begin to confuse law with sentiment or something else in deciding our cases.”

In her reaction on X, Aisha Yesufu said: “The judiciary is the mob. A spineless, greedy and controlled one at that. A mere toy in the hands of corrupt politicians who have not hidden the fact that they are the masters of the judiciary. The CJN can fool himself all he wants, he knows it, the politicians know and flaunt it and the people know it.”