Nasarawa Chief Judge threatens to sanction judges over late sitting

The Chief Judge of Nasarawa State, Justice Suleiman Dikko, has threatened to sanction judges of lower courts in the state who start sittings late.

The Chief Judge chided the judges on Monday in Keffi Local Government Area of the state at the 2019 Second Appeals and Call-Over Session of cases.

Dikko, who was represented by Justice Aisha Bashir, the Acting Chief Judge, said that the leadership of the judiciary in the state will no longer tolerate such indiscipline.

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According to him, some lower court judges begin sittings in their courts by 11.00 am instead of the official time of 9.00 am.

“We cannot tolerate any judge of the lower court commencing sittings late perpetually.

“If for a good reason a judge sits late, it would be understood, but to sit late perpetually, it cannot be allowed to continue,” he added.

Dikko said that the leadership of the judiciary in the state had received reports on the activities of those judges giving it a bad name.

He said that the judiciary would set up machinery to investigate the allegations.

Dikko said that if the high court judges could sit by 9.00am, there was no reason why the judges of the lower courts should be an exception.

Earlier, Ahmed Loko, Chairman, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Keffi Branch, complained about the attitudes of some lower courts judges who commence sitting late in their courts.

The NBA chairman said that such judges often start the daily proceedings in their courts at 11.00 am instead of 9.00 am.
He, however, said that there were committed judges who usually begin sittings by 9.00 am.

Loko appealed to the CJ to urgently tackle the trend before the situation escalates.