Far from being independent, Nigeria’s judiciary has historically operated “under three masters”: colonial rulers, military juntas, and political elites. Chidi Odinkalu unpacks how this legacy persists today, with judges acting as instruments of power rather than protectors of justice.
The Selectorate interrogates the institutional cultures that reinforce judicial subservience and challenges the legal profession’s complicity in maintaining the status quo. This is a book that dares to ask: If democracy depends on an independent judiciary, what happens when that judiciary serves interests other than the people’s?