I’ve never had petition against me to NJC -Ag Abuja CJ

Acting Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, has declared that no petition has ever been written against him to the National Judicial Council, NJC since 1998 when he was appointed as Judge in the Territory.

Justice Baba-Yusuf who spoke on Wednesday during his screening for confirmation as substantive Chief Judge of FCT by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters in Abuja, vowed to continue to protect the sanctity of the judiciary.

He said: “Nobody has written any petition against me to National Judicial Council since 1998 when I was appointed as a Judge in Federal Capital High Court. I realized that I need to make adjudication of justice pure.”

The Acting Chief Judge told the committee, chaired by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC Ekiti Central) that he started his career as a Magistrate in 1986 and became a Chief Magistrate first grade.in 1991 when Kogi State was created.

Also speaking after the submission of Justice Baba-Yusuf, the chairman of the committee said there was no petition submitted against his nomination and had been cleared by the Department of State Services, DSS.

“No petition before us on your nomination and you have a clean bill from Department of State Service,” Senator Bamidele informed.

He, however, added that the independence of the judiciary is non-negotiable, stressing that “Nigeria must have a virile and resilient democracy, where the rule of law is norm and not an optional.”

“Accordingly, all hands must be on deck to ensure that the Independence of the Judiciary is not jeopardised and compromised in any way.

“In this regard, I wholeheartedly commend the efforts of Mr. President to brazing the trail and taking the bull by the horn to ensure financial autonomy of the state judiciary just like its counterpart at the federal level in compliance with the provision of Section 121(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic 1999, as amended , through the Executive Order No.10 of 2020.

“This is a step in the right direction and it is Worthy of commendation,” the chairman explained.

It could be recalled that Justice Baba-Yusuf was appointed as Acting Chief Judge of FCT sequel to the voluntary resignation of Justice Salisu Garba as the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court.

In August 2021, Justice Baba-Yusuf was appointed as the acting Chief Judge of the High Court of the FCT by President Muhammadu Buhari based on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council.

In a statement issued on August 2, Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Ahuraka Isah, said Garba voluntarily resigned to enable him to take up the position of Administrator of the National Judicial Institute, NJI.