By Oloroogun Sola Ajisafe
There is a difference between building institutions and staging them. Between the rule of law and the optics of law. And that difference is what the statement by the Attorney General, Dr. Olukayode Ajulo SAN, has forced us to confront.
The Attorney General has described Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa as “Nigeria’s Ambassador of the Rule of Law.” He cited judicial autonomy, increased Permanent Secretaries in the Ministry of Justice, recruitment of lawyers, and an award from NBA Akure Branch. The language is lofty. The intent is clear. To convert administrative decisions into moral certification.
Let me be clear from the outset. I am a member of NBA Akure Branch. I was actively involved in the 2025 Law Week under the Umar led Exco when that honour was conferred on the Governor. It would be immoral for me to pretend that did not happen, or to dissociate myself from the decision of my branch.
But an award is not a lifetime immunity. An award is a covenant. It is an expectation of higher performance towards the rule of law. And since November, that expectation has not been met. That is why silence at this point would be complicity.
An ambassador represents more than policy memos. An ambassador represents conduct. And in law, conduct is measured not just by what government funds, but by what government withholds and what government tolerates.
Let us therefore test the claim against the facts on the ground.
An ambassador of the rule of law does not preside over a party structure where party leaders were beaten during an APC Congress in February and where, accordingly people lost their lives. An ambassador of the rule of law does not keep quiet while those who perpetrated violence walk free. Prosecution is not a political favour. It is a constitutional duty. Silence in the face of blood is not neutrality. It is complicity clothed as caution.
An ambassador of the rule of law does not flout the Electoral Act and the party constitution with brazen impunity and then seek applause for funding courtrooms. You cannot fund the judiciary in the morning and weaken the very electoral processes that produce legitimate government in the evening. That is not institutional leadership. That is institutional contradiction.
And then there is the matter of the money. The Attorney General speaks of investment. But investment is measured by release, not by announcement. For instance, only 67% of the capital component of the budget is being released to the Judiciary. Where is the remaining 33%? Only 17% of infrastructure funds are being released. Where is the remaining 83%? You cannot claim to be strengthening justice when you are starving the very projects that would deliver it. That is not reform. That is rationing.
The crisis is worse at the base of the justice system. The entire Southern Senatorial District has no viable High Court. The court in Okitipupa destroyed during ENDSARS has not been rehabilitated till today. Ose Local Government has no court at all. In Akure, Magistrates do not have enough courtrooms. Many of them have no official vehicles. They ride public buses. Some ride Okada on the streets of the State capital to get to work. Their courts lack basic amenities. Promises made to them after their last strike remain unfulfilled. How does a government that cannot provide a magistrate with a car or a courtroom claim to be an ambassador of the rule of law? How does a judiciary that is forced to beg for dignity command public confidence? Or shall we say our Ambassador is not aware of all these through his AGCJ?
The Attorney General argues that every naira invested in the judiciary is investment in democracy. He is correct. But democracy is not built by bricks alone. It is built by consequences and by access. When people in Ose have no court, when people in the South have to travel hours for justice, when magistrates are humiliated on Okada, then what we have is not access. What we have is abandonment.
And beyond the courts, where is the ambassador when the people are under threat? What has been done about Eba Island to protect the people of Atijere and to secure the resources of Ondo State? When justice is silent on territorial integrity and on the safety of citizens, then the title of ambassador becomes a costume.
Yes, judicial autonomy is important. Yes, increasing Permanent Secretaries and recruiting lawyers is commendable. But these are baseline expectations of governance, not extraordinary virtues that whitewash selective enforcement. If the NBA Akure Branch had full visibility today of February, of the beatings, of the deaths, of the empty courts, of the open insult and verbal assault on a Magistrate by an appointee of the Ambassador, of the unpaid promises, of the Okada-riding Magistrates, it is doubtful the same honour would have been conferred with the same enthusiasm.
This is where the role of the Attorney General becomes troubling. Instead of calling his principal to order, he has chosen mute silence and gaslighting. He has chosen to project and to engage in sycophancy instead of legal counsel. The chief law officer of a state must be the conscience of government, not the echo chamber.
This is why the title “Ambassador of the Rule of Law” rings hollow. An ambassador speaks for the law even when it is inconvenient. An ambassador defends the law even when he is the one in breach. An ambassador does not wait for press releases to tell us that justice is being served. The courts and the police files tell us.
We must not confuse infrastructure with integrity. A modern court building with no convictions is a museum. A well-funded judiciary on paper with no releases in reality is a showroom.
The people of Ondo are not against reform. We are for it. But reform without accountability and without delivery is public relations. And public relations, no matter how SAN-driven, cannot substitute for the rule of law.
History will not remember the press statement. History will remember whether those who shed blood in February faced the law. History will remember whether the Electoral Act was obeyed or desecrated. History will remember whether the courts in Okitipupa and Ose were rebuilt. History will remember if the long suffering Magistrates got tools to do their jobs. History will remember whether the Attorney General served the Constitution first, or you served the narrative first. This is not a call for the withdrawal of the honour nor a blame on the Exco that awarded it. This is only a reminder that leadership entails responsibility and a call to clear our kitchens of all cobwebs.
Until then, let us call things by their proper names. This is not ambassadorship. This is advertisement.
Oloroogun Sola Ajisafe, Esq writes from Akure, Ondo State
