Tinubu Spurns Claims of Executive Interference in Judiciary

• Says exit of TSA has accelerated FCTA project delivery

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

President Bola Tinubu has again repudiated claims that the provision of infrastructure for the legal community and the judiciary by the executive amounted to interference in the independence of another arm of government.

The president asserted this yesterday at the commissioning of a new Office Annex for the Body of Benchers and 10 units of four-bedroom staff quarters at the Nigerian Law School, Bwari, Abuja.

The President, who was represented at both events by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, insisted that the executive has a constitutional and collaborative duty to ensure that the judiciary was provided with an environment that fosters operational efficiency and excellence.

He said: “Let me be absolutely clear: the provision of infrastructure for the legal community and the judiciary is not an interference in the independence of another arm of government.

“Rather, it is a constitutional and collaborative duty of the Executive to ensure that those who interpret and uphold our laws are provided with an environment that fosters operational efficiency and excellence.

“When we took the oath of office, we promised Nigerians a ‘Renewed Hope’. We made it clear that democracy cannot thrive in a vacuum; it requires strong, resilient, and well-equipped institutions to anchor it.”

The president said his administration was deliberately strengthening the institutions that sustain democracy rather than merely erecting physical structures.

He described the new Body of Benchers’ Office Annex as an affirmation of his administration’s steadfast commitment to the rule of law, institutional independenceand the dignity of the Nigerian legal profession.

Tinubu said providing decent accommodation for Law School staff was essential to producing competent legal professionals, stressing that “we cannot build a world-class legal system with dilapidated infrastructure.”

He said the newly commissioned staff quarters represented only the first phase of broader investments in the institution, adding the Federal Government was funding a new auditorium, constructing additional student hostels and digitising the Law School’s academic and administrative operations.

The president noted that similar interventions were underway across the justice sector, including the construction of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, magistrates’ courts and residential quarters for judges.

He maintained that the projects demonstrated the government’s resolve to translate promises into tangible results through sustained investment in key national institutions.

“We promised not just to govern, but to reform. We promised to rebuild the broken structures of our institutional foundations,” Tinubu said.

He also defended his administration’s decision to remove the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) from the Treasury Single Account (TSA), stressing the move has unlocked the financial flexibility needed to fast-track critical infrastructure projects and transform Abuja into a modern capital city.

According to him, in-spite of the groundswell opposition to the decision, the visible transformation across the Federal Capital Territory had vindicated the policy.