A Psychologist Warns: Nigeria’s Shadow Judiciary Is Not Only Retired, It Is Active, Connected, and Protected -By Professor John Egbeazien Oshodi

Nigeria must stop telling itself a comforting lie about judicial corruption. The lie is that the damage is mainly coming from retired people who no longer matter. Yes, some retired elites may still influence the system, but the truth is sharper than that. The Shadow Judiciary is not only retired. It is active. It is present. It is inside the system right now. It is carried out by a network where some active judges, some active court insiders, and some elite lawyers work together, while certain retired hands may still play supporting roles behind the scenes.

The reason this matters is simple. If Nigerians keep talking about judicial corruption as a past problem driven by “old people who used to serve,” we will keep missing the living reality. The real danger is not only the retired middleman. The real danger is the active middleman, the active insider, and the active judicial actor who has chosen to convert the law into a private business.

I write as a psychologist based in the United States, not to condemn Nigeria, but to interpret what is happening to our public trust. A nation collapses psychologically when citizens begin to believe that justice is not possible. It creates national hopelessness. It creates private anger. It creates quiet revenge. It creates survival thinking. And survival thinking is what corruption feeds on.

The Shadow Judiciary: A Living Network, Not a Retirement Club

The Shadow Judiciary is best understood as a living network of influence and deception that operates alongside official procedure. It is not a formal institution with an office sign. It is a shadow arrangement, where the real work is done privately while the public work is performed openly. Files move in strange ways. Hearing dates appear and disappear. Decisions come out with suspicious speed or suspicious delay. Lawyers behave with unusual confidence before evidence is tested. Litigants are pressured to settle, not because the law is weak, but because someone has already whispered the outcome in advance.

This is why Nigerians feel helpless. The courtroom becomes a theatre, but the deal making happens elsewhere. When citizens sense that the judgment is already decided before the hearing begins, they stop believing that the law is neutral.

Active Judges and Active Insiders: When the System Becomes the Crime Scene

We must speak honestly. Some of the most damaging judicial compromise cannot happen without active participation from inside the court system. A retired person can influence, but an active system person can execute. An active judge can shape outcomes directly. An active court insider can manipulate processes quietly. An active registry hand can delay files, lose documents, leak information, or reposition cases.

This is the frightening truth. The system is not only being attacked from outside. In some cases, the system is the attacker. And when institutions become their own enemies, citizens feel defenseless because there is nowhere left to run. The police may be compromised. The court may be compromised. The media may be compromised. That is how national trust dies slowly.

The Psychology of the Middleman: The Broker Who Makes Dirty Work Look Clean

Whether retired or active, the middleman role is powerful because it reduces risk for the main actors. The middleman is the broker of deception. He carries messages that should never be carried. He moves money that should never be moved. He arranges meetings that should never happen. He makes corruption look like consultation.

The middleman is dangerous because he creates emotional distance between the crime and the criminal. If a corrupt lawyer does not meet the judge directly, he can later claim innocence. If the judge does not touch the money directly, he can pretend purity. The middleman becomes the buffer that makes corruption feel safe.

This is how sophisticated corruption survives. It does not survive by loud stealing. It survives by quiet organization. It survives by building layers between action and responsibility.

The SAN Factor: When Seniority Becomes Psychological Pressure

Nigeria must also confront the role of seniority culture in deepening judicial vulnerability. The Senior Advocate of Nigeria title is meant to represent excellence. But when society and even some judges treat the SAN as an automatic winner, the courtroom becomes emotionally biased before facts are tested.

Some judges may fear the political consequences of offending a powerful SAN. Some court insiders may prefer to cooperate with senior legal figures for protection or future rewards. Some young lawyers may become discouraged, believing that brilliance cannot defeat status. When this psychology enters the system, legal reasoning becomes weak because human fear becomes strong.

This is not about insulting SANs as a group. Many SANs are honorable. But the system must admit that a few bad ones can exploit reverence, manipulate process, and intimidate institutional courage.

Court Registry Manipulation: The Hidden Engine of Judicial Corruption

Many Nigerians focus on judges alone, yet the court registry remains one of the most vulnerable parts of the justice process. Cases do not move by magic. Files move through human hands. Dates are confirmed by people. Documents are stamped by people. Processes can be slowed by people.

When registry compromise happens, it can destroy a case without the public ever seeing a direct attack. It can delay a matter until the victim is tired. It can frustrate a litigant until they accept injustice just to find peace. It can create strategic confusion so that wrongdoing survives through technicality rather than truth.

This is why Nigeria must treat registry integrity as part of national security. It is not just paperwork. It is the bloodstream of justice.

The Real Solution: A Verification Culture That Treats Power as Risk

Nigeria does not need noise. Nigeria needs a verification culture. A system that depends only on public respect is a system that will be exploited. Power must be treated as risk, not as holiness. When a judge becomes too untouchable, the judge becomes dangerous. When a lawyer becomes too feared, the lawyer becomes a threat to justice. When court officials become unmonitored, corruption becomes normal.

In the United States, judicial corruption has been investigated not only by waiting for complaints, but by studying patterns, monitoring suspicious conduct, and breaking networks. Nigeria needs the same mindset. Not emotional accusations, but disciplined detection. Not gossip, but evidence. Not selective punishment, but consistent accountability.

What Nigeria Must Do to Break the Network

Nigeria must strengthen internal monitoring of court processes, not as an insult to judges, but as protection for the system itself. It must build mechanisms that track file movement, detect unusual patterns, audit registry behavior, and reduce private influence. It must ensure that court procedures cannot be manipulated quietly by active insiders.

It must also protect honest judges and honest lawyers who want to do the right thing but feel pressured by powerful networks. When integrity is lonely, corruption becomes strong. But when integrity is supported, corruption becomes afraid.

A Therapeutic Ending: Healing Justice by Restoring Courage and Structure

Nigeria can heal its justice system, but healing requires honesty. The Shadow Judiciary is not only retired. It is active. It is present. It is operating inside the system right now. That is why reform must focus not only on yesterday’s elders but today’s actors.

This is not a call for disrespect. It is a call for national self control. A call for disciplined oversight. A call for courage to tell the truth even when the truth is uncomfortable.

Nigeria must return justice to its proper foundation: evidence, procedure, and integrity. When citizens begin to see that cases are decided by law and not by influence, national heartbreak will reduce. When young lawyers begin to see that excellence can defeat seniority, the profession will regain dignity. When judges begin to feel protected by strong institutions rather than threatened by powerful networks, judicial courage will rise again.

The nation will heal when the law stops being a stage and becomes a shield. When courts stop being a marketplace and return to being a place of truth. When accountability becomes normal, not selective. That is the recovery Nigeria needs, and it is still possible.