The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, said all is not well with the country’s highest court.
Addressing a World Press Conference in Abuja on Monday, Atiku said the recent comments made by the retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Musa Dattijo Muhammad, is a confirmation that something is wrong with the apex court.
The former Vice President said the apex court and the judiciary must never lend themselves to politicization as it is currently the norm with nearly every institution in the country.
Atiku said the allegations made by the retired Justice, who had meritoriously served for more than four decades, should not be swept under the carpet.
He wrote: Even the rebuke by retired Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad is a confirmation from within the apex court that all is not well with the Supreme Court. The court and, indeed, the judiciary must never lend itself to politicization as it is currently the norm with nearly every institution in Nigeria.
“By the way, the strong rebuke of the apex court by the revered Justice, who had meritoriously served for more than four decades, should not be swept under the carpet. The alarm raised by Justice Muhammad and, recently, former INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, offers Nigerians an explanation into why the electoral and judicial system have become the lost hope of the common man.”
Recall that retired Justice Dattijo, at a valedictory session organised in his honour last Friday, had said that the CJN wields enormous powers capable of derailing the course of justice.
Dattijo said the CJN is the Chairman of the National Judicial Commission (NJC), which oversees both the appointment and discipline of judges, and he is equally the chair of the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), the National Judicial Institute (NJI), and the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) that appoints Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
The former justice stated that there is a need to prune the powers of the CJN, given the oversight functions he exercises on the number of legal institutions across the country.
Justice Dattijo also called for a paradigm shift, noting that such enormous powers “are effortlessly abused”.
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