“Appointment to the bench is not an appointment to affluence, influence or unholy alliance with people of questionable character,” CJN To New Judges
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, on Wednesday, urged the newly appointed Judges of the Federal High Court and the FCT High Court, to brace up for the challenges ahead, especially the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
The CJN gave the charge at the swearing-in of the newly appointed judges at the Supreme Court complex.
“The oath of office is an exercise required of all judicial officers to wake up to the reality of the new status they now acquire.
“There is nothing we have not seen or heard of, before, but you should be ready to see and hear more, especially as we approach election season in 2023.
“This indicates that things can never remain static as your lifestyle has automatically changed and your acquaintances, too, have to be carefully chosen so as to align with the current realities of life.
“Though judicial officers are not known to possess some supernatural powers to perform wonders, | can assure you that the society within which you will operate may demand the impossible from you as Judges.
“Even though I rejoice with you on this very important appointment, I still sympathize with you for the many _ troubles, inconveniences, verbal assaults and all sorts of uncomplimentary remarks that may be made about you by various litigants in the course of your adjudication, especially if your conscience is not controlling your conduct.
“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.
The CJN told the new judges that appointment to the bench is not an appointment to affluence, influence or unholy alliance with people of questionable character that may appear before them in different guises and make them do what is offensive to the law.
He urged them to shun unmerited wealth, vainglory, dishonest disposition and ostentatious lifestyle borne out of corrupt acquaintances.
More so, he said “The National Judicial Council will never rest on its oars in fishing out the bad eggs within the judiciary at all times. “You can only run but certainly won’t have the capacity to hide from the long arm of our disciplinary apparatus. Never should you engage in any activities that may make you regret ever being a judicial officer.
The judges of the Federal High Court are Bala Khalifa-Mohammed Usman, Emmanuel Gakko, Aminu Garba, Musa Sulaiman Liman, Ahmad Gama Mahmud, and Segun-Bello Mabel Taiye
Joseph Adebayo Aina is for the FCT High Court
