Nigeria, Nov. 2 -- Two-and-a-half months from a general election, political surrogates have become Nigeria's hommes du jour. These are people trusted to represent or advocate the positions and platforms of principals running for office. They inhabit many spaces and perform in many theatres.

Political surrogates are not supposed to be found presiding over courts of law as judges. Nigeria's constitution prohibits that. It requires in section 36(1) that a court should be "constituted in such manner as to secure its independence and impartiality." A court presided over by a political surrogate would surely be devoid of the constitutive standards of independence and impartiality.

Put differently, a judge who acts as a surrogate for a politic...