Don’t Accept Gifts From Politicians, Litigants, Retired S/Court Justice Warns Judges

Justice Ibrahim Musa Saulawa of the Supreme Court (rtd) has warned that judges must refrain from accepting gifts from politicians, litigants and others to protect and sustain the judiciary’s neutrality and impartiality.

Justice Saulawa, who bowed out of the apex court yesterday after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70 years, said judicial officers must imbibe the culture of contentment, integrity, morality and honesty to be able to discharge their functions without fear or favour.

He said gifts, especially from politicians, could be tempting and irresistible, but that Judges must be firm in rejecting such offers because they are associated with dangers that can lead one to fall into traps in the dispensation of justice.

He recalled his days on the Magistrate’s Court Bench in Katsina when a prominent fuel and motor dealer, Alhaji Ali Bagobiri, donated a Peugeot 504 car to him, which he said was bluntly rejected.

He said the auto dealer went so far as to seek the intervention of the Emir, Alhaji Muhammadu Kabir Usman, and prominent indigenes, with a view to persuading and influencing him to accept the car gift, but he flatly refused.

In the later days, he said the same fuel and motor dealer in Katsina ran foul of the law when he and his servants beat one of his workers, Ahmad, to a comatose state simply because the worker begged to be lent money to eat due to hunger,

Justice Saulawa said that the fuel and motor dealer, along with those who beat the labourer to a comatose state, were arraigned before him in the Magistrate Court, found guilty and sentenced to a N7,000 fine each as punishment.

Besides, he revealed that their victim, who was placed in the Intensive Care Unit of the General Hospital for two weeks, was awarded N10, 000 as damages.

Justice Saulawa recalled that the victim later became a proud house owner and a trader, while the principal culprit, Ali Bagobiri, ended his life as a wretched person, adding that the N7,000 fine was a huge amount at the time.

He therefore charged judicial officers not to accept any form of gift in the course of performing their duties, so as not to compromise or derail the adjudication process.

Justice Saulawa praised his brother Justices on the Supreme Court Bench for the love, affection, and experience they shared in the discharge of their duties, and encouraged them to continue protecting the integrity of the judiciary.

Earlier, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, had congratulated Justice Saulawa for his contributions to the development of the judiciary from the High Court in Katsina to the Court of Appeal and later to the Supreme Court.

The CJN said that the retiring Justice’s firmness would be greatly missed on the Supreme Court bench.

The valedictory session was attended by two former Chief Justices of Nigeria, Justice Mahmoud Mohammed and Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, the Deputy Governor of Katsina State, and eminent stakeholders in the judiciary sector,