The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has said that the resignation of Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) was not in isolation from the recent unprecedented developments where 14 Justices of the Supreme Court censured him over the ways he is handling their welfare and other related issues.
While reacting to the sudden resignation of the CJN, a statement personally signed by the NBA President, Olumide Akpata noted that “Beyond this, there is near-universal agreement that public confidence in the Judiciary and indeed the legal profession is at an all-time low.
“There is now more than ever the need for urgent reforms in the Judiciary and to rebuild the almost dissipated confidence that Nigerians have in the Judiciary and the wider legal profession in Nigeria.
“These should form the immediate first tasks for Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who is expected to now take over as the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria”, the NBA boss said.
He pledged the readiness of the NBA to work together with the Acting CJN and the Judiciary in cleansing the “Augean Stable” and addressing the ills that have continued to plague not just the Judiciary but the entire legal profession. The NBA added that the resignation of the CJN on grounds of ill health was a shock to the association.
“In the course of previous publications and communications, I have consistently appreciated the outgone Chief Justice of Nigeria for the cordial working relationship between the Bar and the Bench under our respective administrations. I must do so again today as he bows out”, he said and prayed for a well-deserved peaceful retirement for the CJN.”