TheCable

Olumide Akpata, president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), says public confidence in the judiciary is currently at “an all-time low”.

Akpata said this on Monday in reaction to the resignation of Ibrahim Muhammad as CJN

Although he was said to have resigned on the grounds of ill-health, TheCable learnt Muhammad was forced to quit his position.

Fourteen justices of the supreme court had accused the CJN of abandoning his responsibility as the leader of the court.

Olukayode Ariwoola has been sworn inas acting CJN by President Muhammadu Buhari.

In the statement, Akpata thanked the retired CJN for his service to the nation and prayed for his quick recovery.

“In the course of previous publications and communications, I have consistently appreciated the outgone chief justice of Nigeria for the cordial working relationship between the bar and the bench under our respective administrations. I must do so again today as he bows out,” the statement read.

“It is however impossible, to consider his lordship’s retirement in isolation of the recent unprecedented developments at the supreme court where 14 justices of the court censured the outgone chief justice of Nigeria over his lordship’s handling of their welfare and related issues.

“Beyond this, there is near universal agreement that public confidence in the judiciary and indeed the legal profession is at an all-time low.”

The NBA chairman added that “there is now more than ever the need for urgent reforms in the judiciary and to rebuild the almost dissipated confidence that Nigerians have in the judiciary and the wider legal profession in Nigeria”.

“These should form the immediate first tasks for honourable Mr Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who is expected to now take over as the acting chief justice of Nigeria,” he said.

“The NBA welcomes the appointment of honourable Mr Justice Olukayode Ariwoola and pledges its readiness to work together with his lordship and the judiciary in cleansing the Augean Stable and addressing the ills that have continued to plague not just the Judiciary but the entire legal profession.”