Kaduna to flush-out corrupt Judges – Grand Khadi
NAN-H-8
Judges
Zaria (Kaduna State), Dec. 15, 2016 (NAN) The Grand Khadi of Kaduna State, Malam Shehu Ibrahim, on Thursday said Sharia Court Judges found guilty of corruption would be brought to book to sanitise the Sharia Legal System.
He made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the17th Annual Judges Conference held at the Kongo campus, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
NAN reports that the conference with a theme “Interlocutory Applications of Sharia and Area Courts: The Islamic Law Perspective”, was organised by the Centre for Islamic Legal Studies (CILS), Institute of Administration, ABU, Zaria.
The Grand Khadi said: “If a complaint or a petition is written to us, we will certainly act on it and ensure justice to both sides, if the affected judge is found guilty, he will be severely dealt with.
“For instance, we’ve transferred some Judges back to offices and remember, the honour of a Judge is to be in a court, administering and delivering judgements but for him to be taken to office is more or less a punishment.
“Therefore, we are taking measures to deal with any corrupt judge with a view to sanitising the Sharia Legal System.
“However, there are some Judges who are just, diligent, straight forward and they carry out their functions with fear of God, but people don’t talk about them to promote what they are doing, why?’’ he asked.
The Grand Khadi identified three committees, who according to him, are saddled with the responsibility of taking disciplinary measures against erring judges.
“We have a Committee of Registrars, who are saddled with employment responsibility, another one is Judicial Staff Service Committee (JSSC) comprising of High Court Judges, Judges of Court of Appeal and Customary Court Judges.
“The last one is a commission created by the constitution called Judicial Service Commission (JSC) comprising Chief Judge, Grand Khadi and President, Customary Court of Appeal and other members.
“This indicates that we have ways to deal with problems associated with Judges from top to bottom,” he said.
While calling on judges to always do what “is right”, Ibrahim advised those who need money among them to please go to business, stressing that “the Ministry of Justice is not a place to make money”.
Earlier, the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, had urged the participants to see the conference as a platform to bring out ideas that would bring about development of Sharia in Nigeria.
Represented by Prof. Mohammed Bello-Usman, the Director, Institute of Administration, Kongo, the vice-chancellor observed that Muslims should do their best in fostering the practice of Sharia in the country.
He appealed to traditional rulers, who are Muslims, to caution their lawmakers against the purported plan to destroy “Islamic Family Life” through bills for “early marriage and gender equality during inheritance”.
“It is very unfortunate that Muslims today are the people championing anti-religious, irresponsible and anti-cultural legislations.
“We have people in positions to put an end to such issues but they are doing nothing to stop it.
“I therefore call on traditional rulers to live-up to the expectation of their religion, bearing in mind that each one of them will stand before God Almighty to testify on his deeds,” he said.
In a welcome address, the Director, CILS, Dr Bala Babaji, said the essence of the conference was to deliberate on challenges facing the Sharia Legal System and proffer solutions to them.
The director said CILS was repositioning itself to meet the needs of the legal community.
He said that the centre had developed a five-year strategic plan and proposed to render services that would meet the needs of the Islamic Legal Community in Nigeria.
Babaji enumerated some of the plans to include introduction of Special Diploma and Post-Graduate Diploma in Fiqh and Usulul-Fiqh (to be run in Arabic) and Special Arabic Courses relevant for judges, lawyers and academics.
NAN reports that the conference drew participants from across Northern Nigeria to include Grand Khadis, judges, legal practitioners and other relevant stakeholders. (NAN)
KLM/MOL/MST
Edited by Mustapha Lamidi/Muhammad Suleiman Tola