The Chief Justice of the Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, on Tuesday, said the country was doomed without the rule of law.
Onnoghen, therefore, charged judicial officers to remain steadfast and committed in the build-up to the 2019 general election.
He gave this charge during the unveiling of the ultra-modern Court of Appeal Complex in Calabar, Cross River State.
Onnoghen, who performed the unveiling alongside the President of the Court of Appeal, Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, and the Governor of Cross River State, Prof Ben Ayade, told judges to remain firm no matter whose ox was gored.
He urged the judges to always be mindful of the fact that the society depended on the justices and the decision they made.
He said, “I use this opportunity to still call on judicial officers in the country to remain steadfast to their oath of office, the constitution of the country and continue to remember that without the rule of law, the society is doomed.
“Hold firm to the wheels of justice and ensure that when cases are placed on a scale, whichever weighs more should be where the judgment should go. It does not matter whose ox is gored because the society depends on us and that decision you have to take. The society survives because you are courageous enough to tell whoever is wrong that you are wrong.”
Also speaking, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Senator Kanu Agabi, who spoke on behalf of legal practitioners, commended the judiciary for standing firm and helping to shape the country through the decisions that had helped prevent anarchy.
“The decisions of our courts are shaping the country and by these, the judges have demonstrated their capacity and disposition to save the country from anarchy. They are proving that that is indeed the third arm of government,” he said.
In his remarks, Governor Ayade commended the judiciary for living up to its tenets of upholding the rule of law, justice and equity in the dispensation of justice.
According to Ayade, the judiciary has now and truly assumed its independent status in Nigeria as it is no longer at the whims and caprices of politicians, but one fully and firmly in control.
