The Bishop of the Diocese of Lagos West, Anglican Communion, Right Rev. James Odedeji, has warned judges and lawyers against allowing wealth, influence, status or personal interests to compromise the administration of justice.
Odedeji gave the warning on Monday while delivering a sermon titled “Faithfulness” at the 2026/2027 New Legal Year Special Service of the Lagos State Judiciary, held at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos.
Citing Leviticus 19:15, he urged legal practitioners not to oppress the poor or favour the wealthy, but to administer justice fairly. “Justice must not be sold. Justice must not be distorted. Justice must not depend on status. Justice must not become available unto those who can afford it, the highest bidders. The poor must not be despised, the powerful must not receive preferential treatment simply because they are powerful, they are wealthy, or they are well-connected,” he said.
Drawing on 1 Corinthians 4:2 — “it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” — Odedeji said the start of a new legal year should prompt reflection on the responsibilities of judicial office. “We are stewards and not owners. Whatever position the Lord has given to us is borrowed,” he said, also citing John 3:27 and Hebrews 5:4 on the nature of authority and calling.
He said judicial office, legal briefs and client trust all demand faithfulness. “A judicial office is a trust. A brief entrusted to a lawyer is a trust. The confidence of a client is a trust. The liberty, the property, the reputation, and sometimes even the life of another human being are under the influence of our decisions made within the legal year. Therefore, the higher the office, the greater the responsibility,” he said.
Odedeji warned that professional success without integrity could amount to failure. “A person may win a case and still lose his integrity. A person may obtain judgment in his favour and still stand condemned in his own conscience,” he said, urging lawyers to match competence with sound character. “Let your competence be impressive, but let your character be unquestionable as you start a new legal year.”
He also cautioned judicial officers against using authority to dominate or humiliate others, stressing that everyone in authority remains accountable to God. “There is a judge above every judge, there’s an authority above every authority, there is a court from which no appeal is possible,” he said, adding that God “sees the money nobody declared” and the conversations nobody recorded.
Odedeji urged the legal profession to measure success not by position but by faithfulness. “Your office, my office is a trust, your authority is an assignment, your position is temporary, your decisions have consequences, your character matters, your conscience matters, and your ultimate accountability is to God,” he said.
He closed by urging judges and lawyers to remain committed to justice, mercy and humility. “May you never become so familiar with the law that you lose your reverence for justice… Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God… May we be faithful to the end,” he said.
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