As Judicial Systems Continue to Fail, Nigerians Turn to Alternative Means

For most Nigerians, seeking justice is a daunting challenge, with reports of individuals imprisoned for years without trial and cases dragging on for decades. “People are wary of the court process,” Zikora Okwor, a legal practitioner, tells OkayAfrica. “They are afraid and it’s not just about allegations of the court being corrupt, there are allegations against specific judges.”

However, social media’s meteoric rise has empowered many Nigerians to seek action from governmental institutions and raise awareness of injustices. In that same vein, Nigerians have grown increasingly reliant on influencers and outspoken personalities to further amplify their voices. This reliance has also birthed an age of activist influencers, an alternative to a struggling justice system and a means to getting a semblance of justice when slighted by the rich and powerful.

A risky situation

While Brekete Family has been around for a while, the latest addition to that docket of alternative justice systems is Martins Vincent Otse, known as VeryDarkMan (VDM). Tall, outspoken and chronically online, VDM is regarded by many as an activist championing the voice of the voiceless. In 2023, he rose to prominence (of sorts) when he called out a skincare manufacturer for not properly registering her products with Nigeria’s food and drug agency. Since then, VDM has taken on other manufacturers operating without approvals, primarily working from his online platforms, which have since garnered millions of followers. In that time, however, VDM has also grown notorious for being a contentious character.

His modus operandi involves a mix of sensationalism, raising accusations—often without substantial proof, and calling out wealthy or influential Nigerians about allegations that ultimately solidify the small-man-taking-on-the-big-guns persona some believe he tries hard to embody. It is a loud, usually misogynistic, and scarcely helpful activist positioning that many Nigerians still resonate with and platform. Those who support him believe he espouses a moral compass missing in the country; a trait that sits at the heart of his recent case, where he accused influencer Bobrisky, and Nigeria’s financial crimes commission and correctional services, of bribery and corruption around the time she was imprisoned for defacing the Naira.

Before VDM, though, there was Segun Awosanya, known on X (formerly Twitter) as Segalink and once famous for helping to bail out young Nigerians unlawfully arrested or stopped by SARS agents. Respected and often lauded for tactfully utilizing his platform, Awosanya fell out of favor with young Nigerians during the #EndSARS protests, when he described the demonstration as an “insurrection” and was accused of secretly working with the government.

Okwor believes that it all ultimately boils down to the lack of options for Nigerians seeking justice. “And sometimes these things tend to work. You’ve built a platform and people leverage that platform to bring some closure or justice or at least bring some noise to what they are passing through. Some of the stories people tell about no justice for their murdered children, it’s sad.”

Still the instability and individualistic make-up of these alternative means of justice means that they are fundamentally insufficient in fully addressing legal or judicial concerns. Ahmed Isah, the host of Brekete Family once slapped a woman accused of setting her child on fire and sometimes assumes a position of quasi-judge in the cases he treats. VDM on the other hand is vehemently opposed to criticism and has regularly used his platform to attack people who disagree with him — often at the expense of whatever cause he is championing.

The way forward

While these people are the most available sources of justice for many, they are insufficient and will continue to be until an overhaul of the Nigerian judiciary system is undertaken.

“The Nigerian justice system must be decolonized,” Okwor says. “It’s no longer about the overlord and the natives, we are all supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law. The DIY justice schemes seem like a justice system for the have-nots, instead of us all being equal in the eyes of the law.”

Okwor believes that another big part of this issue is that Nigerians have found that public shunning is often the most effective way of getting their voices heard. “There is so much evidence of people interacting with the justice system and getting burned. It seems we have a culture that only public disgrace can bring some closure.”

Okwor says that sensitization on legal processes and a targeted, well-executed eradication of corrupt practices might help renew the dying trust in the judicial system amongst Nigerians and cut out the need for unreliable figureheads — but that may not completely solve the issue.

“If you bring back trust to the process, I don’t think these people will disappear. I think they will become ancillary to the court process,” Okwor says. “I would have preferred if there were more NGOs focused on justice because at least we can understand that these people are not using what they are doing to attack people.”

But before then though, Nigerians will have to keep choosing between a wonky judiciary and a seemingly unending emergence of makeshift justice systems.