Retiring Supreme Court Justice, Saulawa, Advises Judges against Receiving Gifts from Politicians

• CJN: Saulawa is a man of integrity, principle

Alex Enumah in Abuja

Newly retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Ibrahim Musa Saulawa, has advised judges in the country against receiving what he described as “Greek gifts” from politicians and litigants.

Saulawa said judicial officers must imbibe a culture of contentment, integrity, morality, and honesty to be able to discharge their functions without fear or favour.

He spoke at a special valedictory court session held to mark his retirement as a judicial officer, upon attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.

According to the outgoing justice, gifts from politicians could be tempting and irresistible, but judges must be firm in rejecting such offers because they are associated with dangers that can make one to fall into traps in the discharge of their duties.

Saulawa cited the gifts to include cows and rams usually distributed during festive periods. He lamented that politicians were also in the habit of inflating the prices of a ram bought at N200,000 to N2,000,000.

He stated, “Why will a politician send gifts to judges? It is unheard of in other countries, it is only in Nigeria such things happen.

“We need to do something about this.”

The retired justice recalled his days on the Magistrate’s Court Bench in Katsina, when a prominent fuel and motor dealer, Alhaji Ali Bagobiri, donated a Peugeot 504 car to him, which he said, was bluntly rejected.

Saulawa said the motor dealer went to the extent of seeking the intervention of the Emir, Alhaji Muhammadu Kabir Usman, and prominent indigenes with a view to persuading and influencing him to accept the car gift but he flatly refused.

In the later days, Saulawa said, the same fuel and motor dealer in Katsina ran afoul of the law when he and his servants beat one of his workers, Ahmad, into a comatose state simply because the worker begged to be lent money to eat.

Saulawa said the fuel and motor dealer, along with those who beat the labourer, were arraigned before him at the Magistrate Court, and they were found guilty and fined N7, 000 fine each as punishment.

Besides, he revealed the victim of the beating, who was placed in the Intensive Care Unit of the General Hospital for two weeks, was awarded N10, 000 as damages.

Saulawa recalled that the victim later became a proud house owner and a trader while the principal culprit, Ali Bagobiri, ended his life as a wretched person. He said N7, 000 fine was a huge amount at the time.

He charged judicial officers not to succumb to accepting any form of gift in the course of performing their duties so as not to compromise or derail in the course of adjudication.

Saulawa praised his brother Justices on the Supreme Court bench for the love, affection, and experience shared in the discharge of their duties. He encouraged them to continue to protect the integrity of the judiciary.

Earlier, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, congratulated Saulawa for his contributions to the development of the judiciary, from the High Court in Katsina to Court of Appeal, and later to the Supreme Court.

Kekere-Ekun stated, “We celebrate a judicial career that has spanned more than four decades and has traversed virtually every level of the Nigerian Judiciary.

“We celebrate, too, the values that have characterised that journey and the example which his years of service have provided to generations of judicial officers and members of the legal profession.”

The CJN, while recalling her first encounter with Saulawa at the Court of Appeal, disclosed that she was endeared to him because of his integrity and principle.

Kekere-Ekun stated, “We each took the position that the integrity of the judicial office admits of no compromise and that even the appearance of impropriety must be guarded against.

“What followed was a quiet but unmistakable affirmation of a principle that needed no elaborate expression: that the honour of the judicial office is preserved not merely in our judgments from the Bench, but also in the choices we make when no judgment is being written.

“I believe that moment deepened my appreciation of my Lord’s character and in its own quiet way, helped to define the mutual respect and understanding that have characterised our relationship ever since.”

Kekere-Ekun said the firmness of the retiring Justice would be greatly missed on the Supreme Court bench.