The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad, on Wednesday, warned judges to desist from “unholy alliance with people of questionable character” as next year’s general election draws closer.
Mr Muhammad spoke at the Supreme Court complex in Abuja, while administering oath of office to six new judges of the Federal High Court and one judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court.
The CJN who said, “appointment to the bench is not appointment to affluence, influence,” warned the judges against “people of questionable character that may appear before you in different guises and make you do what is offensive to the law.”
“You must shun unmerited wealth, dishonest disposition and never should you engage in any act that may make you regret ever being a judicial officer,” Mr Muhammad noted.
He told the new judges to brace up for the “impossible” from the Nigerian society, “especially as we approach 2023″ general elections, adding that though he rejoiced with them, he also sympathised with them for the troubles, inconveniences and all sort of uncomplementary remarks that may be made against them by litigants in the course of adjudication.
“We are all humans, no doubt, but you must display the humanism in you by doing those extraordinary things that people would say you cannot do. That is what distinguishes those with integrity and passion for success from those with unenviable pedigree and dysfunctional moral compass.”
He further cautioned that judicial officers must shun “vainglory, dishonest disposition and ostentatious life style, borne out of corrupt acquaintances.”
‘NJC will fish out bad eggs’
The CJN said the National Judicial Council (NJC), a body statutorily empowered to employ and discipline erring judges, will never rest in the efforts to fish out the bad eggs within the judiciary and show them the way out.
Mr Muhammad said that corrupt judges can only run but will not have the capacity to hide from the long arm of the NJC.
The CJN counselled the new judges to allow their oath of office to occupy an important place in their hearts and be rightly applied in their adjudications.
“This is a bond that you should engrave in your heart and it should serve as a moral compass while adjudicating in all matters that come before you”.
“You must not derail from the revered path of impartiality, fairness and equity. We don’t need any soothsayer to tell us that the times are quite perilous and ominous.”
The CJN further said that the present situation of Nigeria, seriously needs judicial officers with the right character and who are honest, objective, dispassionate and humble, adding that the appointment of the new judges was not by accident but by the divine will of God and must therefore be led by wisdom and guided by their conscience.
The new judges are — Emmanuel Gakko; the immediate past Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court, Musa Sulaiman Liman, Segun-Bello Mabel Taiye, Bala Khalifa-Mohammed Usman, Ahmad Gama Mahmud, Aminu Garba of the Federal High Court and Joseph Adebayo Aina of the FCT High Court.
With the swearing in of six judges, the Federal High Court now has 77 judges on its bench. The court has a maximum capacity of 100 judges.
Backstory
In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES last July, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, John Tsoho, said there a “crying need” for more judges to be appointed to court.
Mr Tsoho had lamented the caseload the court’s judges were grappling with, with some according to him, having between 400 to 500 cases in their docket.ⓘ
Taking our reporter through how the number of judges fell from 87 that it was at some point to its current 72, before the recent retirement of Anwuli Chikere this year, he said there was a “crying need” to replace the vacancies left behind by the exited judges.
Credit: Premium Times