August 29, 2026
By Dayo Johnson, Regional Editor, South West
“Judicial rascality” is a harsh term which Nigerian appellate courts use when a lower court judge blatantly ignores a pending appeal or expressly defies an order from a higher court. In Nigeria, courts operate in a hierarchy. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land which entertains appeals arising from Court of Appeal’s decisions while the Court of Appeal oversees lower courts like the Federal High Court and the State High Court. When someone appeals a lower court decision to a higher court, the lower court must therefore suspend further proceedings on the matter. If the higher court issues an order of stay of proceedings, the lower court judge must drop the case immediately.
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A lower court judge crosses the line into judicial rascality when he acts as if he is above the rules of court hierarchy and continues a trial despite knowing a stay order is in place or delivers a judgment on a matter that is already before the higher court on appeal. The Supreme Court has previously held that this defiance makes a judge unfit for the bench and that it amounts to judicial rascality. The higher court will usually declare the lower judge’s actions “useless” or nullify their judgment entirely. The appellate court may also report the judge to the National Judicial Council for disciplinary action.
