The anti - graft war of the President Muhammadu Buhari -led administration has continued to receive a groundswell of support with a Senior Advocate of Nigeria , Chief Wole Olanipekun , urging the bar and the bench to shun corruption and unethical practices.


Olanipekun spoke on Tuesday at the Bar and Bench Forum as part of activities marking the 2017/2018 Golden Jubilee Legal Year in Lagos State .

In a keynote address entitled , “ Promoting a Pace -setting and Productive Judiciary in Lagos State ” , Olanipekun admonished judges and magistrates to be sober , impartial and God -fearing in the discharge of their duties .
“ Your Lordships are not only expected to be impartial , but decent, courteous , fair, sober , reflective and God -fearing.

“ In my honest opinion and I want to believe that many Nigerians share this humble thought of mine , a judge has no business being corrupt or corrupted .

“ A judge should not be influenced or be compromised by other factors or nuances other than the law and facts of the case placed before him , ” he said .
Olanipekun noted that judges and judicial workers constituted the courts and therefore , should maintain high moral standards .


He said :“ Can the pacesetter status of the judiciary in Lagos State be enhanced if our judges have to work with miscreants , saboteurs, rogues , infidels , criminals , touts and delinquents as registrars , court clerks, bailiffs , sheriffs , personal assistants etc ?
“ A judge alone does not constitute the court , but a court is constituted by the judge , counsel , registrars of all cadres, bailiffs , secretaries etc .
“ A judge does not know whether any of his aides , registrars of any lawyer has been using his name, title and office to collect bribes purportedly meant for him from litigants .


“ Examples are legion , but the fact remains that no judge is a knight- errant and no judge or human possesses the attributes of God , who alone is omniscient and omnipresent .

“ Any of these staff of the judiciary who have been caught engaging in any unscrupulous activity aimed at tarnishing the image of the judiciary, or bringing it into opprobrium , should not be treated with kid gloves . ”

Olanipekun , however , decried what he identified insufficient judges overburdened with adjudicating thousands of cases in courtrooms in the state compared to their counterparts in the Federal High Courts .
(NAN)

http://punchng.com/you-have-no-business-being-corrupt-olanipekun-tells-judges-magistrates/

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