ASSESSING THE ROLES OF THE JUDICIARY IN NIGERIA DEMOCRACTIC DISPENSATION

Abstract

In recent years, the judicial arm of government in Nigeria has been criticized as a result
of its ill-timed disposal of electoral case in free and fair approach. The study adopted
Marxist theoretical framework vis-à-vis secondary data to ascertain the problem under
consideration. The paper reveals that the capitalist class in Nigeria in general has collect
financial resources not just to perpetuate electoral fraud but also bribe their way in the
election petition tribunal, which aim at correcting the abnormality in the electoral system
thereby denying the masses access to justice in Nigeria. Consequently the paper
recommended that various punishments and sanctions should be awarded to erring
judges who indulge in corrupt practices, such punishment like death sentence, dismissal
from service, public humiliation by sending them to prisons to serve jail term. On the side
of politicians who bribe judges to see their way through, they should equally be trial and
convict for bribing public officers. Also they should be banned from whatever political
position they are contesting for, this will help in reducing the corruption in the judiciary
that does not allow Nigerian democracy to grow and it will serve as a deterrents un to
others.