Tinubu Govt Under Fire As Falana Condemns Houses Allocated To Judges

Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s administration for handing over houses to judges, describing the gesture as discriminatory, illegal, and inconsistent with the constitutional principle of equality before the law.

Falana said while judicial officers deserve decent accommodation and adequate security to perform their duties, singling them out for special treatment without extending similar benefits to other public servants amounts to unequal treatment before the law.

Speaking on the issue at a public event, the senior lawyer questioned the legal basis for the government’s action.

“We have got to a stage in this country where we need to challenge the special privileges given to the rich and top public officers in the country,” he said.

“Yesterday, I was watching the TV, I was very sad when I saw that the federal government was handing over keys of houses to judges and I ask myself, under what law are we operating because it is discriminatory and illegal.”

According to Falana, Nigeria has reached a point where preferential treatment for political office holders and other privileged public officials must be challenged.

He stressed that although judges are entitled to secure and comfortable accommodation, other citizens who equally render essential services to the nation should not be overlooked.

“You must treat equals equal in our country, so you can’t take out judges. Judges are entitled to accommodation, by the way. They must live comfortably and they must be well secured but other citizens must be equally provided for,” he said.

“If you don’t do it, you can be challenged and that is going to happen very soon because what is good for the goose is good for the gander.”

The senior advocate also cited university professors as an example of public servants whose welfare has received inadequate attention despite their contributions to national development.

“If you have a professor who also has to render services to the society and those professors are not paid well, nobody talks of providing houses for them now, they were living in rented quarters… These days, there are no enough quarters for them, so we must also look at that,” he said.

Falana further criticised what he described as the multiple benefits enjoyed by former governors serving in the National Assembly, arguing that such privileges contrast sharply with the conditions of career civil servants.

“If former governors in National Assembly, about 21 of them, are taking salaries from the National Assembly and jumbo allowances and they are also entitled to a house in the state where they governed for four or eight years and another house in Abuja and you have a civil servant who has worked for 35 years, and it’s just turned out at the end of the day, so we must insist that equality before the law in our country is respected,” he stated.

He maintained that the principle of equality before the law should guide government policies and warned that any discriminatory policy that confers exclusive benefits on a select group of public officials could face legal challenge.

On Wednesday, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, announced that the newly inaugurated residential quarters built for judges of the FCT High Court would be allocated on an owner-occupier basis.

Wike said the implementation of the policy is subject to the approval of President Bola Tinubu and the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).

Speaking during the inauguration of 20 residential units constructed for FCT High Court judges in Katampe, Abuja, as part of projects marking President Tinubu’s third anniversary in office, Wike also unveiled plans to expand judicial infrastructure in the territory through the construction of additional courts and more housing for judges.

However, the initiative has sparked controversy, with critics questioning the FCT administration’s priorities.

Earlier, socio-accountability organisation MonITNG criticised Wike over what it described as misplaced development priorities in the nation’s capital, arguing that the government was focusing on housing for judges while thousands of residents in Abuja’s satellite communities continued to lack access to essential public services.

Addressing the minister, the group said: “In Abuja, thousands of residents in satellite communities continue to live without the most basic public services, clean water, functional schools, and accessible healthcare.”

According to MonITNG, the decision to prioritise new residential quarters for judges raises serious concerns about the FCT administration’s spending priorities, given the pressing needs of underserved communities across the territory.