Nigeria, March 17 -- On 27 February, Nigeria's National Judicial Institute (NJI) in Abuja opened a continuing education course for judges. The opening featured an address by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, who invited the participants to eschew "unethical conduct that could expose the judiciary to ridicule." Beneath his text, it seemed as if the Chief Justice desired to warn the participants to stay away from interfering with a brief that he has chosen to make entirely his own. Under his watch, judicial appointments in Nigeria have become corruptly farcical.

The fortnight before this address, it emerged that the CJN's daughter-in-law, Oluwakemi, was at the top of a list of 12 nominees to fill judicial vacancies in...