 George Floyd, Nigeria, and the elusive search for social justice. A fortnight ago, a 12-man jury in the state of Minneapolis, United States of America, entered the guilty verdict on all three counts slammed against Derek Chauvin, a police officer, inducted in the killing of Mr. George Floyd while in the cause of duty, in what many critics say was underpinned by racism. Of course, the share eruption of global outrage against the incident last year, even in the middle of the pandemic, leading to the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, and many other countries around the world contextualize what it meant for race relations in the United States and the world at large, hence the global outcry for justice. That justifiable demand was no doubt hidden in that verdict of the jury, which leaves the convicted officer with a punishment of at least 40 years in prison, according to Minneapolis law. The celebration that greeted the verdict in the United States, both amongst Black and white communities, speaks volumes of the role of justice in uniting and melding societies around the common cause. In this instance, race equality. It was shake with Mandanfordio, who said that a kingdom can endure unbelief, but it cannot endure injustice. This saying puts in great perspective the important role of social justice in any society, and we saw it in a great display in the Derek Chauvin trial, given how the verdict has served to shape the conversation around racism in America. Unfortunately, this is one tool that Nigeria has not been able to properly deploy towards building a just and equitable society that has for too long eluded us. Nigeria has had many instances of police brutality and the extrajudicial killing of Nigerians by law enforcement agencies would lead to unknown consequences for those involved. A particular case that parallels the circumstances of the George Floyd incident is the gruesome murder of six young Nigerians in the Farah capital territory, Abuja, in the year 2005, by operatives of the Nigerian police, in what is now popularly referred to as the Apocis killing. Many years after, the senior officers inducted in the horrific incident have all been freed. And a few years ago, one of them, Ibrahim Danjouma, was elevated to the rank of commissioner of police. And who can forget the case of retired police officer James Umafor, of the notorious Okuzu Sass, whose reputation for ordering the clean of suspects in the custody of the now disbanded police department became a public knowledge last year. Despite the public outcry in the wake of the answers protest, it is an indictment of a criminal justice system that he remains at large. These two instances, and many others that aggregated to fuel the campaign against police brutality last year, are ugly reminders of how we have been unable to deploy the instrument of justice to build a just and equitable society, as the Americans have done with the George Floyd case. The alluring world of a national multiple race, unity and faith, peace and progress. While these are noble ideas, it is doubtful if they can be attained in an atmosphere of social and economic injustice, which has been the other of the day in the over 60 years of our claims to nationhood. To turn a new leaf, therefore, we must take another look at our corporate approach to the very important value of justice. The reason is not how to seek. For as Prof Wole Schroenker once said, justice is the first condition of our humanity. And I did say our nationhood. To serve with hearts and minds. One nation bound in freedom, peace and unity. I'm sticking up on there. We don't want no peace. We want equal rights and justice. It's actually for the mental. You can get peace without just justice. Absolutely. And everybody wants to have this feeling that if it comes to my turn, I'm going to get the same justice. And unfortunately, in our society, if you take a case to the court, there's a Yoruba saying that says, ah, can you cut the dory? That means if you take your fellow person to the court, you will never be friends with them already. They're telling you don't go to court. Then you feel spited, and there's no place for you to take your course to. But I don't know where we're going to head towards in terms of justice. I don't have any solution in mind. I think the first place you start is the police. And like I always told people that, you cannot. If you keep complaining about the police, it won't get us anywhere. All right. Because the police themselves, they are handicapped. Number one, I was watching a movie recently where almost everything that happened was played out because they had a camera. Even the Judge Floyd thing, you had a camera. You had the people who were recorded. And there was an outcry. And that was a place where you had a system. Now, look at it. Even in a country like USA, where you have a system, a structure, Judge Floyd was not the first person to be killed in 2019 or 2020. 2020, it won't be the last. It won't be the last. Many people were killed last time. There was this guy, this video of a guy that was jogging. And two white guys were. You know, what has happened to him? So you see, even in that case where you have everything, there's still a bit of injustice. Let alone our country where we have nobody calm. The people are underpaid. The policeman on the street is angry. He needs to, I mean, everything. The salary of the judiciary, I think the last time I read has not been reviewed. Exactly, about 12 years. So how then do you get justice? So it's not about just asking for it. It's about pushing. Let's first push for these people to get what they need. They need justice before they can give us justice. Because if the National Assembly, look, I'm like the budget for themselves, the executives get their pay, they travel. But just my salary and even my uniform that I wear as a police officer, it's so tattered. And I don't have money to buy it. I wear slippers. All these things will come up to injustice. We're human beings. I agree that the justice system has a lot that needs to be done. And we are here, again, talking about it. All motion and no movement. So how do we move from no motion to no movement? Maybe we should employ graduates as police officers. OK, but you see, even if you employ the graduates. But they are graduate police officers. Yes, a lot of them. Sorry, I'm not even looking at the issue. I want to look at the issue in a larger context. I want to take it outside the scope of police brutality and all of that. I'm looking at it in the larger context of the Nigerian states and how injustice has been actually, when you look at all that's happened in the country, it ties to the question of injustice. You understand? What are the judiciary? What are the secrets we are facing in the country? Some people have argued that while we have banditry, terrorism, and all but not, it's because so many persons have been denied justice. Over a long time ago, and justice doesn't have to be... A lot of those six boys are still flowing. So certainly we cannot go to bed and sleep with our eyes closed. The families feel that they are being shortchanged by the Nigerians. Will you pray for that country if you are the family members? Of course, what will you give them? Nothing but negative words. Also note that when there is no consequence, people will do as they like. So yes, impunity comes when there is no consequence. So one of the big issues for us here is that there's too much impunity. And impunity is the reason some people have been able to even get a hold on power and retain that hold on power. And they would not want to stop it. Because if you do, they become the relevant. In the way of wrapping up, I think to the extent that there should be consequences for actions, the institution that has been set up under the constitution to address feelings of injustice is the judiciary. So I think it has to come back to them because they are the only organ who have the mandate of resolving dispute between private citizens and between governments and private citizens. Give them what they want to know. Unfortunately, thank you. Unfortunately, the judiciary, for it to be able to function optimally, it has to be independent, not only independent, truly independent to be able to function. If you watch the George Floyd trial, you appreciate the judicial process. You see judicial process in action. And I don't know if some of you watched it. So I think if we actually have to solve this problem, we have to, to invest more in our judiciary, make it more independent and primed to resolve issues that come to it. Confort is talking about marriages and divorce after the break. Don't go anywhere.