Abide By Your Oath or Resign, CJN Tells Justice Tsoho, Kanyip

• You must help yourselves before God can help you

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Muhammad, friday enjoined newly inaugurated Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho and his counterpart, President of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Justice Benedict Kanyip, not to allow themselves to be misled but be guided by the oath of office taken today.

Justice Muhammad gave the charge during the swearing-in ceremony of the Justices Tsoho and Kanyip as substantive Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and President of the National Industry Court of Nigeria respectively.

The appointments of both Justices Tsoho and Kanyip were confirmed by the Senate on November 5, 2019 but released by the presidency on Wednesday.

Speaking after he administered the oath of office on both Tsoho and Kanyip, the CJN said, as Judges accountable to God for their deeds, they must ensure that they dispense justice with honesty and transparency to all manners of human beings that come their way.

“The law is not a respecter of persons,” he said, as he urged them to “deal with the situation as placed before you” and never to hesitate “to resign” when they realised an issue of conflict of interest. Doing otherwise would bring about a lot of challenges,” the CJN warned.

Justice Muhammad added that the oath administered on them did not call for celebration but sympathy because with their status their conduct and behavior must be guided by the oath.

The CJN while acknowledging that the process of dispensing justice is very tedious, prayed God to guide them from the beginning to the end of their tenure of office.

“Let me tell you here, that though we need God to help us, but the truth is that God will not help any person who does not help himself and so as Judicial officers we must learn to help ourselves so that God can be of help to us”.

The CJN warned them not to allow any personal interest to override the discharge of their function as demanded by law and their oath of office adding that on no ground should they compromise in their principles.

“This inauguration does not call for a long speech, but let me remind you that you are holding your new offices in trust for people and you must not do anything to betray the trust. You should try as much as possible to justify the oath and your appointment by putting your experience to bear in the discharged of your duties”.

The CJN also reminded them on the need to respect the law by avoiding pitfalls because the Law does not respect anybody who runs fowl of the law itself, adding that they should always consult whenever they have challenges that requires consultation.

He reminded the new Chief Judges to know their onions, respect themselves and to be wary of their conduct and those they associated with.