From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Vice President Yemi Osibanjo has said the judiciary remains a major pillar of Nigeria‘s democratic experience.
He made the assertion at the opening ceremony of the 53rd annual conference of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers (NALTs) held at the Convocation Arena of Bayero University Kano on Tuesday.
Osinbajo said democracy and social justice are closely linked and that the cornerstone of democracy is the insistence that “our society must be governed by the rule of law and not the whim of man.”
“As law teachers and legal practitioners, we are custodians of this truth. However, democracy cannot endure without social justice. The pursuit of justice lies at the heart of the quest for the good of society,” he said.
He, however, lamented that more than a dozen elected governments in Africa had been overthrown in the recent times
He said though Nigeria’s present democratic experience was still at its infancy, it has achieved a lot given the successful transfer of power from one elected government to another.
He cited the 2015 elections which saw the All Progressives Congress(APO) defeat the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) as an example, while observing also that the Judiciary was able to carry out their constitutional duties judiciously during and after the elections..
He, therefore, tasked law teachers to take an academic look at the development and challenges facing the country’s democracy while expressing optimism that the outcome of their deliberations would contribute to the development of the legal system in Nigeria.
In his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor, Bayero University, Kano, Sagir Adamu Abbas, held that the theme of the conference was apposite, appropriate and timely, coming at a time the nation was preparing for the 2023 elections.