Nigeria, Feb. 4 -- There is hardly any jurisdiction in the common law world in which a man with his current record could possibly still sit as a judge of a superior court of record. In Nigeria, however, Hyeladzira Nganjiwa proudly sits on the bench of the Federal High Court and currently serves in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, in South-East Nigeria. From this perch, he advertises everything squalid about the current state of Nigeria's judiciary.

Nganjiwa went to Government Secondary School, Damaturu, when it used to be part of Borno State, finishing in 1978. In 1979, University of Lagos admitted him to read law. In 1984, he enrolled to become a lawyer in Nigeria. Nganjiwa did his compulsory national service with the Ajaokuta Steel Company, be...