Governor El-Rufai Swears In 15 New Judges
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State yesterday, swore in 15 new judges appointed to various courts of the state, held at Sir Ibrahim House in Kaduna.
Malam Nasir el-Rufai appealed to the newly sworn-in judges to remember their judicial oath of office, particularly the phrase that says, “I will not allow my personal interest to affect my official functions and decision”.
The governor also expressed his gratitude, saying, “it is my honour and pleasure, it is 33 days left for me to leave office that we swore in the highest number of judicial officers of our superior halts.”
He said, his hope and prayer is that the swearing in of this new judges is heavy work load that the judicial officers have been facing in the last seven years, reduce onward.
“However, we will still continue to push the National Judiciary Council to allow us appoint more judges of superior court because of the heavy work load our judges face,” he added.
According to him, “in the last seven years, we have worked with three chairmen of Judicial Service Commission tried to appoint as many judges as possible.
“We also worked with judiciary to introduce technology to ease the work load of our judges”.
The governor said, he hopes and prays that his successor, Senator Uba Sani will continue to build on that.
“On our own part, we will continue to press for the decentralization of our judiciary so that the Judiciary Service Commission at the state level will have more power to appoint as many judges as they want, depending on their work load,” he said.
He noted that, this requests are constitutional amendment which some of them are committed in pursuing whether in office or out of office by the special grace of God.
“I want to appeal to the newly sworn in judges to remember their judicial oath of office particularly the phrase that says I will not allow my personal interest to affect my official functions and decision.
“Consequently, we leaders are all accountable to God, even if we get away with injustice in this world, you will face ultimate unavoidable justice when we appear before God,” he pointed out.
He urged them to do justice and avoid setting free criminals on grounds of technicalities because what goes around surely comes around.
He said, the purpose of law is to order society, we use technicalities to allow disorder into the society, you maybe the next victims.
“I commend the chief judges, the head of the superior court and all our judges for cooperating with us in the last eight years.
“We’ve not always agreed and I leave office with a large degree of bitterness because we’ve not been able to convict in the last eight years, persons that have contributed to the history of ethno religious violence and insecurity in the state, the wheel of justice seems to grind very very slowly.
“But the fact that we were able to prosecute them, I hope the wheel of justice just a little faster in the next two years and our state will become even safer than before.
“I thank you my lord for all the support and cooperation we got, I want to pay tributes to former and the current chief judge with the very wise counsel we have received from them in our Kaduna leadership council meetings which the heads of all superior court attend from time to time, to advice us on policy direction and other decision that we take in the state.
“This is the last time I think we will seat like this with many of the judges. I use this opportunity to thank them for their hard work it is not easy, you’ll never please everyone, I am certainly not someone that you can please easily but I wish you well as I leave office in 33 days,” he said.
The number comprised seven state High Court Judges, five (Khadis) Sharia Court of Appeal Judges, and three Customary Court of Appeal Judges.
The High Court Judges are Bashir Shitu Yusuf, Yakubu Badamasi, Abdullahi Isyaka, Joyce Asabe Aka’ahs, Nana Fatima Muhammad, Ambi John Aku and Buhari Mohammed Balarabe.
Those sworn in as Judges for the Sharia Court of Appeal are; Aminu Ahmad Jumare, Nuhu Mahmud, Murtala Nasir, Abdulrahman Ibrahim and Suraj Mahadi Mohammad
The Customary Court of Appeal Judges include; Dorothy Sim Inwulale, Dorcas Thabita Antung and Yusuf Yakubu.
