Justice should be blind. It should not recognise wealth, status, political influence, connections or social class. Whether a person is a billionaire or an ordinary citizen struggling to survive, the law should offer the same protection and demand the same accountability.
But for many Nigerians, the experience of justice is far removed from this ideal.
For the ordinary citizen, seeking justice can be an exhausting journey through police stations, lawyers’ offices, courtrooms and government agencies. Legal fees can be prohibitive. Court cases can take years. Bail can become difficult to secure. And even when a citizen has a legitimate grievance, the cost, time and emotional burden of pursuing it can be enough to make that person give up.
This raises a fundamental question: Is justice in Nigeria truly accessible to everyone, or has access to justice gradually become easier for those who can afford it?
The Poor Citizen’s Dilemma
For a wealthy individual, a legal dispute may be an inconvenience. For a poor citizen, it can become a matter of survival.
Imagine an ordinary Nigerian whose property has been taken, whose wages have been withheld, whose business has been wrongfully shut down, or whose rights have been violated. The citizen may know that an injustice has occurred but still be unable to pursue it effectively. Why? Because knowing your rights and being able to enforce them are two different things.
The ordinary citizen may have to pay for transportation to court, legal representation, documentation and other expenses while losing valuable working hours. If the case is repeatedly adjourned, the financial burden increases. Eventually, the citizen may reach a painful conclusion: fighting for justice costs more than the injustice itself. That is where the credibility of the justice system becomes vulnerable.
Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied
One of the greatest challenges facing justice in Nigeria is delay. A legal system that takes too long to resolve disputes can unintentionally punish the very people it is supposed to protect. A person who waits years for justice may lose property, opportunities, relationships, businesses or even hope before judgment is finally delivered.
Justice is not only about the final judgment. Justice is also about how long a citizen must wait to receive it. When cases drag on indefinitely, public confidence suffers. People begin to believe that the system is designed for those with the financial resources and patience to survive it.
Equality Before the Law
The principle of equality before the law is fundamental to any democratic society. Yet Nigerians often perceive a different reality: that money, influence and connections can determine how quickly a matter receives attention, the quality of representation available to a defendant, or how aggressively institutions pursue a complaint.
Whether every individual case actually reflects this perception is a separate question. What matters is that the perception itself is damaging. A justice system cannot command lasting public confidence when ordinary citizens believe that there is one standard for the powerful and another for everyone else. The law must not only be impartial; it must be seen to be impartial.
The Rise of Social-Media Justice
Perhaps one of the clearest signs of declining confidence in formal institutions is the growing number of Nigerians taking their grievances to social media. Instead of beginning with a lawyer or a court, some citizens now record their experiences, publish them online and appeal directly to the public. Social media has become a powerful tool for giving visibility to people who might otherwise remain unheard.
This is where personalities such as VeryDarkMan (VDM) have become significant. His enormous online following has demonstrated the ability of social-media activism to bring individual grievances into national conversations and place pressure on institutions and individuals who might otherwise have remained outside public scrutiny. For some Nigerians, this represents empowerment. For others, it raises serious concerns about the emergence of a parallel form of justice based on public outrage rather than due process. Both arguments deserve consideration.
Social Media Is Not a Courtroom
There is a danger in allowing social media to become a substitute for the justice system. An accusation is not proof. Viral content is not evidence. Public outrage is not a judicial verdict. Someone accused online still has the right to due process, investigation and a fair hearing. A society that demands justice for victims must also protect the rights of the accused.
This is why social-media activism should complement—not replace—the formal justice system. The fact that citizens sometimes feel compelled to go online to get attention should be treated as a warning sign for institutions, not as evidence that social media should become the country’s courtroom.
What VDM’s Influence Really Tells Us
The important question is not simply whether one agrees with VDM. The bigger question is why millions of Nigerians are willing to listen when he speaks about alleged injustice. His influence reflects something deeper about society: people want to be heard. When citizens believe that nobody will listen to them through conventional channels, they search for someone who will amplify their voice.
That does not make every claim made on social media true. Neither does popularity confer legal authority. But it does reveal a profound hunger for accountability, responsiveness and fairness. Instead of merely attacking social-media activists for becoming influential, institutions should ask themselves why citizens increasingly believe that an influencer can get their attention faster than the institutions established to serve them.
Restoring Confidence
Nigeria does not need to choose between formal justice and social-media activism. What Nigeria needs is a justice system so accessible, transparent and responsive that citizens do not feel compelled to go viral before they can be heard. This requires faster court processes, affordable legal assistance, effective enforcement of citizens’ rights, responsible policing and stronger institutional accountability. Most importantly, the ordinary citizen must feel that the system belongs to them too.
Justice should not depend on who you know.
It should not depend on how much you have in your bank account.
It should not depend on whether your story can attract millions of views online.
The True Test of Justice
The true test of Nigeria’s justice system is not how it treats the powerful. The powerful will almost always find a way to obtain representation, attention and access. The real test is the ordinary Nigerian—the person without money, connections, political influence or a large social-media following.
Can that person report an injustice and be taken seriously?
Can that person afford to pursue the matter?
Can that person obtain competent legal representation?
Can that person expect a timely hearing?
Can that person stand before the law without feeling disadvantaged by poverty or status?
Until the answer to these questions is an unequivocal yes, Nigeria’s pursuit of justice remains incomplete.
*Because justice is not truly justice when only those who can afford to pursue it can obtain it. A justice system earns its legitimacy not by how it protects the powerful, but by how faithfully it protects the powerless*
By Mary Moore
