It is high time the judges (and the judiciary) take their own pound of flesh on both the executive and the legislative arms of government by giving speedy and harsh judgement to any of the latter found guilty of corruption.

The commando style in which some judges were arrested last weekend was a shame on the hallowed personalities of the court. Reactions and counter-reactions have been made concerning their arrests, as well as the commitment of the Buhari’s administration to fighting corruption. The opponents of Buhari has blamed him for arresting the judges like mere criminals, but it is still this same set of people who have been criticising Buhari for not convicting anyone being prosecuted for corruption. These people pretend to make Buhari and the corruption fighting agencies the ones to be the judges to convict those accused of corruption.

It is not the duty of the President to prosecute or deliver judgement on anyone accused of corruption as this is the duty of the judiciary. Since the commencement of this administration, it's business as usual in the courts, as only a handful have been convicted of corrupt enrichment. This is a set-back on the fight against corruption.

The judiciary should clean its rank and file in order to make the temple of justice a holy place. They should not allow the ‘partial’ cleansing by the executive to go without a more severe reaction. The judiciary as an arm of the government should also clean both the executive and the legislative arms as well.

Bribery and any form of inducement must be shunned by the ‘lords’, while unholy romance with the lawyers must be avoided as well. Both the bar and the bench must brace up for this assignment. It will be disgusting not to use their only tool – the courts – to cleanse other arms of government.

I rest my case.

•Follow Adeyemo Olajire-Philip on Twitter via @oneolajire

Update news