My lord, the Honourable the Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola GCON permit me to adopt and rely on the protocols you earlier established at this event.[ad]With your leave having been sought and obtained, let me outrightly make one confession to this distinguished audience.
My lord, the Honourable the Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola GCON permit me to adopt and rely on the protocols you earlier established at this event. With your leave having been sought and obtained, let me outrightly make one confession to this distinguished audience. Initially, it was not my desire that a valedictory be…My lord, the Honourable the Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola GCON permit me to adopt and rely on the protocols you earlier established at this event.
It was my view that valedictory sessions only provide honourees the platforms to tell their stories and, informed by experience in the course of service, make suggestions as to how to improve the institutions they had served. I was, however, unable to appreciate the extent to which previous suggestions had been exploited to effect the desired reforms.
I was born and bred in Limawa, a ward in Minna, now the capital of Niger State, then, in 1953, a relatively small and quiet provincial headquarters. I was named after my paternal grandfather known and called Musa Kumurya. Adamu, my paternal great grandfather traded in cattle and kolanuts between Kumurya, a village in present day Kano State and Ogbomosho in Oyo State and beyond. He would convey cattle southwards and kola nuts back to the north.
My maternal grandparents were of the Fulani stock that accompanied the Dan Fodio Jihadists to Nupe land. Muhammadu Maigari was my maternal grandfather. Rukayya, Inna Lalemi, his wife, gave birth to two children: Abdullahi and Aishatu Baiwa, my mother. Dr. Mahmud Tabo Minna, of blessed memory, was their sibling from a different mother. Fatima, Halima and Abdullahi, are my much younger aunties and uncle from my grandfather’s fourth wife. My mother and these three are still alive.
Now, how has the Judiciary fared in the course of my journey? The journey was calm and fulfilling until about halfway through my Supreme Court years when the punctuating turbulent cracks made it awry and askew. The conversation about the diminishing number of justices at the Supreme Court has become a refrain. As I bow out today, the number is further reduced to 10 against the Constitutional requirement of 21 justices. That this avoidable depletion has affected and will further affect the court and litigants is stating the obvious.
When I exit today, the North Central zone that I represent ceases to have any representation until such a time new appointments are made. My lord Hon. Justice Ejembi Eko JSC who also represented the zone retired on the 23rd of May, 2022. It has been a year and five months now. There has not been any replacement. With the passing of my lord, Hon. Justice Chima Centus Nweze, JSC on 29th July 2023, the South East no longer has any presence at the Supreme Court. My lord, Hon.
In 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari became the president, the budgetary allocation to the judiciary was ₦70 billion. In the 2018 Appropriation Bill submitted to the National Assembly, the President allocated ₦100 billion to the judiciary. That the unjust and embarrassing salary difference between the justices and the Chief Registrar still abides, remains intriguing to say the least. Valedictory session, after valedictory session, lapses and challenges that should be nipped are restated to no avail. Why the silence and seeming contentment?A couple of years ago, appointment to the bench was strictly on merit. Sound knowledge of the law, integrity, honour, and hard work distinguished those who were elevated. Lobbying was unheard of.
In some quarters the view is strongly held that filth and intrigues characterize the institution these days! Judges are said to be comfortable in companies they never would have kept in the past. It is being insinuated that some judicial officers even campaign for the politicians. It cannot be more damnifying!
Chapter 9 verse 71 further requires that believers, both men and women, enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil.“This is how a society goes down the drain really quickly first overlook evil,then it permits evil, then it legalizes evil, then it promotes evil, then it celebrates it and then persecutes those that still call it evil.”“When you follow a concept, consider whatprinciples not concepts. No concept deserves unconditional love. Commitment is earned through character.
Our ten children are Abdullahi, an accountant, Aliyu an Estate Manager, Aishatu a Solicitor, Asmau, an Economist, Rukayya, an Information Technologist, Mubarak, a Business Administrator, Farida, an Architect, Fatima, another Solicitor, and Faruk, another Business Administrator. The last of them, Musa Dattijo Muhammad JR, now 5 1/2 years old, like his older siblings, Insha Allah, will be the tenth graduate. May the Almighty Allah spare our lives to witness the event. We lost Nafisa, in 1996.
Lastly, I am indeed overwhelmed by the number of persons who turned out to witness today’s event. I am short of words. May the Almighty Allah reward you all and guarantee your safe return to your respective destinations. I am done. Thank you for your time and patience. The issue of egg gluts has continued to persist for more than 40 years in Nigeria, due to the fact that over 99 per cent of table eggs are still being sold as raw commodity. A University Don, Prof. Idowu Ola, who disclosed this in an interview, said “there are millions of table eggs either…