THE Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, yesterday charged judges of the court to be courageous in carrying out their judicial function despite attacks from some quarters.
“The moment the independence of the judiciary is taken away, then the fabric of the society is destroyed,” Justice Auta stated yesterday at the court’s annual end of year get-together in Abuja.
He further tasked his colleagues and other judicial officers in the court to resist any form of harassment and intimidation from any quarters.
“We are hopeful that the judiciary and our brother judges will rise to the occasion and ensure that the independence of the judiciary is not traded for harassment and intimidation.
“The moment the independence of the judiciary is completely eroded and judges are no longer courageous to dispense justice without fear or favour then the society is doomed.
“I therefore urge you not to be shaken in your resolve to build a strong and dependable judiciary whose pronouncements will be appreciated by all who go through the portals of our justice administration system.
“The conscious attempt to unwittingly create a wrong impression in the minds of the public that the judiciary is an unreliable and criminal organ of a democracy, thereby denigrating judicial officers and staff must be resisted and not allowed to foster for even one more hour,” Justice Auta stated.
Justice Auta said this year’s end of the year get together was in low-key due to the prevailing economic situation in the country, saying there was nothing much to celebrate.
“The recession also affected the court and propensity to meet with the desires of staff as we used to do.
“I call on all of us to join hands in our conscious efforts to protect the image of the court,” the CJ advised.
On his part, the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court, Mr Emmanuel Gakko, said as part of the court’s developmental stride in information and communication technology, it embarked on the “docu-ware project” which involves the conversion of the court’s judgments and rulings from the old disc system.
“In the area of e-filing system for the court, we have so far trained all the staff concerned and all the servers are fixed, ready to start, but we cannot do this without input from legal practitioners.”
He noted that despite all the issues around the judiciary in the outgoing year, “we should put the ugly incidents behind us and strive towards a brighter and greater future with a view to restoring the reputation of the court,” Gakko said.
and then