An escalating wave of violent kidnappings targeting High Court and appellate judges across Nigeria has thrown the nation’s legal system into crisis, leaving senior jurists exposed to armed syndicates and terror groups while paralysing court proceedings nationwide.
Heavy weapon-wielding assailants have launched coordinated ambushes on judicial convoys and residential compounds across Kebbi, Borno, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Edo states. The surge in attacks, driven by multi-million naira ransom demands from North-West criminal syndicates and strategic campaigns by North-East terror groups like ISWAP, has triggered emergency court walkouts and exposed severe deficiencies in federal security infrastructure for the bench.
“An attack on a serving judicial officer is a matter of the utmost gravity,” said Justice Professor Oagile Bethuel Key Dingake of the African Judges and Jurists Forum (AJJF). “The safety and security of judicial officers are indispensable to preserving judicial independence, maintaining public confidence in the justice system, and upholding the
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