The chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ilorin branch, Kwara State, Barr. Kamaldeen Gambari, has made a case for the appointment of retired Chief Judges in the country into the Supreme Court.
Gambari, who spoke with LEADERSHIP in Ilorin, emphasised the need for the continuous engagement of such retired Chief Judges because of their vast experiences and exposures.
He urged government at all levels to exploit the experience of the retired Judges by incorporating them into other roles rather than letting their knowledge rot away.
He cited the example of the recently retired Chief Judge of Kwara State, Justice Suleiman Kawu, whom he described as highly knowledgeable and incorruptible.
“We will continue to push to get them (retired judges) engaged and useful for the state, starting from the Kwara State government up to the federal government, especially through the National Judicial Council (NJC),” he said.
The NBA chairman noted that the judges have acquired so much knowledge and experience whereby public funds have been expended on them to acquire the trainings, adding that, “but, just because they have clocked certain age, they will now have to disappear into the backstage.”
He opined that such investments on the retired judges “should not just be thrown away; they should be put into use as it happens in other nations of the world whereby they are engaged to come and preside over some other matters, especially where they have their specialities.
“Especially at the Supreme Court where we’re having judges fewer than we needed and there hasn’t been any appointment and people are retiring every day. The versatile ones amongst these people can be made use of to fill these voids, so that their knowledge would not be wasted.”
On the alledged partisanship of some Judges, Gambari expressed he doubt that any Judge who know his onion, bearing in mind the code of ethics of his office will venture into such unholy journey.
He said the ethics of the profession negate such action because partisanship by any judge is a disservice to the judiciary, which is capable of bringing a Judge’s office into disrepute.
He said: “The ethics of their office prohibits that, if anyone of them is found involving in that, it will be unfortunate. It is a great disservice to the judiciary and they are doing that at their own peril because that will bring the office they occupy to disrepute.”
The Ilorin NBA chairman stressed that, “If truly there is corruption in the judiciary, I can vouch that we have no corrupt judge in Kwara State judiciary. All of our judges are full of integrity regardless of who the litigants are. They don’t bow to any pressure and they discharge their duties with utmost and purest of intentions based on the facts presented before them.”
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