From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Muhammad, has called on the 22 newly sworn-in judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja to refrain from acts that would smear their names or bring the legal profession into disrepute.
He made the call, yesterday, while administering the oath of office on them at the Supreme Court complex.
While charging the judicial officers to rise above temptations and trials that might bring their careers into disrepute, Muhammad said: “The Bench is neither for the prosaic, the greedy nor those with questionable character who can easily fall for a plate of porridge offered by desperate litigants.”
He said the newly sworn-in judges have entered a lifetime covenant with God and the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that whatever they do rightly would be counted and accordingly recorded in their favour.
“Appointment to the Bench is not an appointment to wealth, vain glory, dishonest disposition or ostentatious lifestyle through corrupt acquaintances,” he said and told them that the searchlight of the National Judicial Council (NJC) beams on all judicial officers across the country.
“Our radar is sophisticated enough to detect every form of corruption and wrong doings. The remoteness of your location of adjudication can never blur our sight on you,” he told the judges and added that the NJC has powerful lens to capture and document their conduct and urged them to be careful in their conduct to avoid regretting been appointed a judicial officer.
The CJN said the letters and words of the oath they have taken must reside in a prime place of their heart and be applied generously in their adjudications, even as he urged them to be impartial, fair to all and apply justice and equity in all their undertakings. He said the country needs now are judicial officers who are calculating, honesty, objective, dispassionate and humble.”