Without the rule of law Nigeria will be on its way to doom - CJN

Justice Walter Onnoghen, the Chief Justice of the Nigeria, on Tuesday, July 24, said the country was doomed without the rule of law, charging judicial officers to remain steadfast and committed in the build-up to the 2019 general election.

 Onnoghen, gave this charge during the unveiling of the ultra-modern Court of Appeal Complex in Calabar, Cross River state, urging judges to remain firm no matter whose ox was gored.

The CJN 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.”

Senator Kanu Agabi, a former minister of justice and attorney general of the federation, 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.

Previously the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, urged prosecutors to prove their cases beyond a reasonable doubt because the court is not a Father Christmas.

Onnoghen made the statement on Monday, May 7, at a workshop for investigators and prosecutors at the National Judicial Institute (NJI) in Abuja.

“I must emphasise that in all criminal trials, the prosecution must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and this burden is discharged by the prosecution calling witnesses to give compelling evidence against the defendant with relevant exhibits to lend credence to oral evidence as the court is not Father Christmas that will give what you did not ask of it,”Onnoghen said.

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