Jigawa State Governor Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar has charged the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to assist the state in ensuring that only competent legal practitioners are henceforth appointed as judges in the state.
The governor, according to a statement by the Public Relations Officer, of the state Ministry of Justice, Zainab Baba Santali, made the pronouncement when he hosted the newly elected leadership of the NBA, Dutse branch, led by the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu.
“If there are bad judgments and they keep going to appeal and are upturned and in some cases even insult the nature of the judgments, I think it is not good for Jigawa State.
“It is not good for the quality of people that we believe we should have. So we should have good and sound judges that will render sound judgments that might not be upturned regularly on appeal,” the governor said.
Governor Badaru said his doors would remain open for the association for advice on any wrongdoing in the judiciary.
“It is you (NBA) that will look into the situation of our judges and advise us accordingly. Through the attorney general, I will be requiring advice whenever the opportunity comes up for the appointment of judges,” he said.
He added that, “any judge that we are about to appoint and you think there are issues, raise it with me.”
Earlier, the chairman of the NBA, Dutse branch, Barrister Abubakar Garba, stressed the need for the state government to review the mode of selecting persons to be recommended for appointment as judges of superior court.