Justice of the Supreme Court, Amina Augie, has urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, to deliver on his promise to move the judiciary forward.
Justice Amina, who is the sixth female jurist on the apex court bench, said the new CJN would be keenly monitored in the next two years.
She spoke at a dinner that was organised in honour of the newly elected President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, in Abuja.
Justice Amina noted that both the CJN and the new NBA President assumed their offices at a time the judiciary is in dire need of urgent reforms in both the Bar and the Bench.
She said: “This is a very auspicious occasion. Y.C. Maikyau is my son in whom I am well pleased. I have known him right from his days of practice in Sokoto state.
“For all to be here today, both members of the Bench and the Bar, under one roof, I really consider it a very divine and auspicious occasion.
“It is not coincidental that both the CJN and the NBA President are here today. They both assumed office same period and both of them have two years each to spend in office.
“We want to remind them that we will be watching them in the next two years and that when their tenure expire, in their scorecard, we expect to score them 100%.
“Most times, we look at the people occupying offices and not the institution. We forget that for us to have justice, we really need to institutionalize justice.
“When Justice prevails, you have peace and you will have contentment.
“We don’t want a situation where one is elected and he brings down the office. I want us to look at it today as a new beginning.
“With a cordial working relationship between the Bar and the Bench, I am sure that we are going to have a glorious justice sector that we will all be proud of”, Justice Augie added.
She described the NBA President, Mr. Maikyau, SAN, as a meticulous and hard-working lawyer, expressing her confidence in his ability to lead the Bar to greater heights.
While the CJN, Justice Ariwoola, in his remarks, congratulated the NBA President on his election victory, he called for greater corporation between the Bar and the Bench.
Likewise, Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi state who was a special guest at the event, commended the NBA President for his philanthropic activities in the state.
“Maikyau has been into remarkable philanthropic activities in Kebbi state. He used his contacts in the USA to organise medical outreach where medical practitioners from different parts of the world came to Kebbi and stayed for days.
“Before Covid-19 came, there were nine medical outreaches and about 5000 persons received medical assistance.
“He has been very outstanding in supporting activities that have united our state. We look up to him to deliver the promise of making the Bar a better place”, governor Bagudu added.
In his speech, the NBA President thanked his Law School 1990 Set for organising the event on his honour.
Maikyau, SAN, said his emergence as NBA President was as a result of collective effort of lawyers, insisting it was was not a mistake that the CJN was sworn in the same time he came on board.
“We have a lot to offer to this country. A lot need to change to reflect who we are as Ministers in the temple of justice. Only justice will ensure a turn around in any society.
“The absence of justice is responsible for the chaos we are experiencing. We don’t need to see the legal profession as means to make money, no.
“Our primary responsibility is to justice and to ensure justice to the society. The narrative in public is that every judge is corrupt and that we as lawyers can be easily compromised. But you and I know that it is not true.
“That is why the public hardly have confidence in us. I call on each and everyone of you to make the sacrifice of speaking up. It is our duty to let the country know that we are not a people that can be compromised.
“Why must we keep quiet in the face of this negative narrative about us? Why are we keeping quite? One thing we must do quickly is to speak up against anybody or persons that speak about the Nigerian judiciary being corrupt.
“I am certain that if all of you will come together and support us, we will change the narrative. That is what we must do.
“We must come together to speak up in defence of the integrity of the judiciary and also expose any bad egg among us”, the NBA President added.
Among dignitaries at the occasion included the governor of Jigawa state, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, two former Attorneys-General of the Federation, Adetokunbo Kayode, SAN, and Mohammed Adoke, SAN, Justices of the Supreme Court, President of the National Industrial Court, Chief Judges of the Federal High Court and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, as well as the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School.
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