By; MOHAMMED KAWU, Bauchi
The Chief Judge in Bauchi State, Justice Rabi Umar has expressed dismay that some staff of the State Judiciary have their personal forms, receipts and even stamp which they use to convert the money to their personal use, thereby depriving the state government of its much needed revenues.
To curb such malpractices, the chief judge said, court forms with security features such as affidavits, probate and other necessary forms have been printed to forestall such negative and corrupt tendencies.
She was speaking Tuesday while swearing-in commissioners for oath from the sharia court of appeal in Bauchi Tuesday, the chief judge urged them to shun all forms of corruption, malpractices and unethical behavior in the discharge of responsibilities bestowed on them.
She recalled that the chief registrar and board of internal revenue service chairman have met and agreed on modalities that certain percentage will be paid to the High Court to defray expenses of printing security forms while the bulk of the revenues be remitted to coffers of the state government.
Justice Rabi Umar, also the chairman of the state judicial service commission, also expressed surprise that some disgruntled elements within the judiciary blamed her for appointing a Christian as chief registrar to undermine the religion of Islam.
“Iam a Muslim who followed the tenets of my religion strictly which enjoined me to be fair and just to all manner of people, irrespective of their belief, creed or tribe and have sworn to uphold the provision of the Nigerian Constitution, as such will never do anything to undermine either my religion or the constitution”.
She further explained that no any MDA in the state is anchored on religion and same also applied to High Court of Justice in the state where seniority matters a lot, stressing that chief registrar is always being appointed from among judiciary staff without recourse to religion as criteria.
Justice Rabi Umar also queried that Mrs. Modupe O. Bello and Justice H.M Tsamani both Christians were in the history of the state judiciary appointed and served as chief registrars at various times without complaining, why now?
Rabi explained What is happening now is a climax of irrevocable standing payment order granted by the then chief registrar of the High Court on 23rd June, 2009 before she became chief Judge which resulted in the judgment of Federal High Court against State High Court in favour of AMCON in Suit No. FHC/BAU/CS/37/2017 delivered on 8th December, 2020 prompting AMCON to garnishee the account of Bauchi, which matter is still lingering in court.
“The staff perpetrating these acts do so with the active connivance, support and encouragement of their godfather who now resort to using religious sentiment to cause disharmony between the High Court and Sharia Court of Appeal”.
According to the chief judge, the godfather is making frantic effort to undermine the integrity of his own organization using religious sentiment to deceive the general public to believe in his cause, assuring however that will not happen under her watch.
Justice Rabi recalled that the recent directive she gave for investigation was the instances some staff of the High Court entered into contractual relationship with various companies worth billions of naira using forged stamp, forms and letter headed paper of the office of chief registrar without her knowledge, authority or consent.
“In an instance where the victims of the fraudulent activities complained directly to the EFCC. The staff were investigated and charged to court by the EFCC and are currently standing trial. Another similar was about four months ago where some staff of the High Court defrauded a company from Kaduna state using forged documents of the State High Court”.
“All these fraudulent contractual transactions being entered into by these enemies of the judiciary to defraud innocent people are with full support and active connivance of their godfather who is a senior member of the organization operating behind the scene and share in the proceeds of the fraud”.
Rabi described as worrisome their fight to stop the unfortunate activities in the judiciary by putting measures to check the menace, while the perpetrators are fighting them back using religion, and assured to extent the security documents to Sharia Court of Appeal in stemming the tide of the menace.
Justice Rabi Umar advised the public to verify any misinformation and look at the people dishing it out, and verify the contribution the peddlers of such rumours made to the religion they are using to sustain their nefarious activities, and the contribution she made to the religion to determine who among them is undermining the religion.
