Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) has warned Nigerians and politicians against disparaging the judiciary as a result of the outcome of election petition verdicts.
Gatekeepers News reports that the AGF, while describing allegations making the rounds against the country’s judiciary as cheap blackmail, appealed to politicians that lost out at all levels not to throw caution to the wind because of their losses at the tribunal.
Fagbemi further urged them to stop making unfounded insinuations against the judges, noting that anybody who has concrete evidence against any judge should feel free to bring it forth.
The AGF, gave this charge while addressing journalists in his Ijagbo, Oyun Local Government Area, Kwara State‘s country home on the sidelines of a prayer organised in his honour.
Fagbemi said, “You lost at the tribunal, you lost at the Appeal Court and at the Supreme Court yet you are insinuating foul play. I think even apart from law, morality also demands that you take the outcome as it is.
“I am not saying that judges cannot be wrong, because they are human beings. Where anybody sees or feels that the course of justice has been perverted, they should feel free to bring it forth rather than making unfounded insinuations.
“Unless you are able to bring forth concrete evidence, I will not succumb to blackmail. Nobody will shield an erring judge.
“One thing about justice is that the man who wins will praise the judgment, the person who loses will never agree that he has lost fairly unless you give him the judgment.
“Don’t forget, when you make unfounded insinuations, you are dragging the name of the nation in the mud.”
He urged “all and sundry to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship.”
The AGF further enjoined Nigerians to give President Tinubu a chance to turn around the fortunes of the country, adding that the President is not looking at the immediate benefits of his efforts but the long term benefits.
He said, “That is why I appeal to all and sundry to give him a chance.
“He is a man who is ready for the task. It takes a while to see the full effect of his efforts.
“He is not the one who created these problems in Nigeria, but he is not complaining.
“President Tinubu is somebody who wants to work. He is prepared to do the job.
“He is not somebody who is just learning the job. He has done it before in Lagos State. I am not equating Lagos with Nigeria.
“Immediately after his swearing in, he has been all out to seek investors’ buy in. As a result, positive responses have been trailing his discussions with foreign investors.
“The only thing we need is to exercise some patience. Even if you plant a tree, it won’t grow into fruition until after a while.”
On judicial reforms, the AGF stated that he had used the platform of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) to make the governors come on board.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria added that the Federal Government would also engage judges at both federal and state levels.
He said, “What I have done is to seek the platform of NGF to address all the governors in Nigeria as to what they are required to do if anything is being done at the level of the Federal Government.
“We expect that the states, within their limited resources, will let into it.
“Another thing is that we need to engage the judges, because it is one thing to make laws, it is another thing to administer it.
“We also need to engage the chief judges, especially at the state level. We need uniformity without necessarily turning the country into a unitary system.”
