The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, has called on the 22 newly sworn in judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory to refrain from anything that would smear their name or bring them into disrepute.
The CJN gave the advice on Tuesday while swearing in the judges at the Supreme Court Complex in 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.”
The CJN charged them to rise above temptations and trials that might obstruct or even halt their rise to the pinnacle of their career.
According to him, the newly sworn-in judges have entered a lifetime covenant with God and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, adding that whatever they do rightly would be counted and accordingly recorded in their favour.
“Appointment to the Bench is not an appointment to wealth, vainglory, dishonest disposition or ostentatious lifestyle through corrupt acquaintances,” he said, warning that the searchlight of the National Judicial Council had been beamed on all judicial officers in the country.
The CJN said, “Our radar is sophisticated enough to detect every form of corruption and wrongdoings. The remoteness of your location of adjudication can never blur our sight on you.”
While informing the judges that the NJC has powerful lens to capture and document their conduct, Muhammad urged them to be careful in their conduct to avoid regretting being 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.
Muhammad urged them to be impartial, fair to all and apply justice and equity in all their undertakings.
He said that what the country needed now were judicial officers who were calculating, honest, objective, dispassionate and humble.
