The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ado Ekiti Branch, has lamented the lack of financial autonomy for the judiciary in the state despite strikes embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
The union also said it was wrong for the executive to be the appointing authority for the judges and magistrates as the practice had continued to undermine the independence of the judiciary because “he who pays the piper dictates the tune.”
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The branch Chairman, Adeyemi Adewumi, made the remarks in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, at the commencement of the Law Week 2022 with the theme, “Judicial independence, a recipe for true democracy in Nigeria.”’
He said, “We had seen a situation here in Ekiti State where NJC recommended judges for appointments and the executive stopped it and it took the coming of another government and NBA’s intervention to get it done.
“Judiciary will never be functional and independent as long as the executive ratifies their appointments and release funds for their operations.”
Adewumi said the essence of the theme was to chart the way forward on ways and means to ensure true judicial independence.