The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad on Tuesday, charged the 22 newly sworn-in Judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory to stay away from anything that would smear their
name or bring them into disrepute.
Muhammad gave the advice while administering oath on the judges at the Supreme Court Abuja. He 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 charged them to rise above temptations and
trials that might obstruct or even halt their rise to the pinnacle of their career.
He said that “appointment to the bench is not an appointment to wealth, vain glory, dishonest disposition or ostentatious lifestyle through corrupt
acquaintances”, and that they should remember 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.
According to the CJN, the newly sworn-in judges have entered a lifetime convenant with God and the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the effect that whatever
they do rightly would be counted and accordingly recorded in their favour.
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 also said that what the country needs now are judicial officers who are calculating, honesty, objective, dispassionate and humble.