You are IGNORANT and cannot INTIMIDATE us. We shall always uphold the law - Nigeria's Chief Justice upbraids Buhari and APC

You are IGNORANT and cannot INTIMIDATE us. We shall always uphold the law - Nigeria's Chief Justice warns Buhari

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Mahmud Mohammed, has upbraided at the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their leader Muhammadu Buhari for criticising recent supreme court judgements that went against the party. The CJN stated that those calling the judicial officers corrupt are inconsiderate and ignorant of how the judiciary operates.

Justice Mohammed, who is retiring from the judiciary after 38 years of service made the observation on Wednesday in Abuja while speaking at a special valedictory session held in his honour.

According to the CJN, such criticisms are made without due considerations of the law and the system of government in Nigeria.

He said that the judiciary is duty bound to act and would continue to act in accordance with the dictates of the law as it stands and not as its critics would want it to be.

“The Nigerian judiciary, though constantly striving to redress the wrongs and tilt the balance in favour of that which is right, has recently had to face the backlash of misguided opinions fashioned without due consideration of the law,” he said.

Lending his voice, to the position of the CJN, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Augustine Alegeh, also condemned in strong terms, the criticism of the Nigerian judiciary.

The NBA President also described the act as ‘a deliberate attempt to disparage the judiciary’. The Nigerian Bar Association  accused President Muhammadu Buhari of plotting to intimidate judiciary.

Speaking at the valedictory session of one of the CJN,  Alegeh  said the recent criticism directed at the judiciary over the current anti-corruption war was unwelcome.

 “The NBA condemns in its entirety the generalisation and/or categorisation of the judiciary as being corrupt and an impediment to the zero corruption policy of the present administration.”

Alegeh stated that while there were bad eggs in the system, the categorization of the whole judiciary as corrupt was a strong misunderstanding and an effort to restrain the judiciary, which he said would not be accepted.

While the NBA president did not make a reference to President Buhari in his address, it was clear the leader of the country was one of those to which the comment was directed.

He also defined such comments on judicial system as one aimed at discouraging the judiciary.

According to him such intimidation remarks would be resisted.

Buhari recently disparaged the Nigerian judiciary in recent times. While speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 31, Buhari stated that his biggest headache in the current fight against corruption in Nigeria remained the actions and inactions of the judiciary.