The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, on Wednesday promised to partner with journalists and other stakeholders, to sanitise Nigeria’s judicial system.
Muhammad made the pledge shortly after he was sworn in as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria at the State House, Abuja by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The CJN urged journalists to expose suspected cases of corrupt practices in the judiciary.
Muhammad, however, warned that allegations of corruption against any judicial official must be substantiated, to guide against tarnishing the good image of the affected individual and the system.
“I will want to see the Nigerian judiciary become the best judiciary in the world although we are still learning, I am proud to say Nigeria’s judiciary, I am sure is one of the best in Africa.
“If you take a look at our judicial officers, all of us are fully trained, yet all of us at intervals still go on courses so that we remind ourselves of the ethics binding on us.
“I’m telling you that the judiciary under my watch by God’s grace will be better and the issues of all these kinds of corruption I will ask you people or any other person who knows about it to please let him write to me or let him contact me and tell me.
“But remember, the thing that is difficult is when we ask you to substantiate, you will be able to substantiate.
“Don’t just make a hollow allegation that ‘we have heard’, ‘we have done’. Be sure that you are quite in possession of your facts (so that) you will be able to establish when we ask you to establish your allegation and we will deal with it,” he said.
