The Judiciary suppose to be the last hope of the common man, but in Bauchi state the same is not said of the Judiciary having a free hand in the State not to talk of being the last hope of the common man, as it is this medium gathered that the Judiciary in the State has become a pawn in the hands of Governor Isa Yuguda.
For instance this paper gathered that nine months since the State Acting Chief Judge has been made the acting Judge of the State, the Governor has refused to appoint an acting Chief Judge of the state knowing well that Justice Umar R.T. is not the most senior Judge. Infact this medium learnt that the Acting Chief Judge was sworn in by former Governor Adamu Muazu at night due to pressure from above to swear her in. However, when Governor Isa Yuguda came on board, he gave her an appointment letter which was backdated, a situation which saw a petition written to the then Inspector General of Police to Investigate the matter as it is a criminal issue to give her an appointment letter and backdate it.
Universalreporters247.com learnt that during the time when the state appointed Justice Umar as the Acting Chief Judge of the State, the most senior Judge then is M S.liman who was appointed to the bench on the 28th March, 2004, and was given his letter of appointment as a Judge of the High Court in April 2004 as he was also sworn into office on the 3rd May, 2004 alongside Hon. Justice H.I. Shall. Khadi Dahiru A. Ningi and Khadi Mohammed A. Abubakar.
Rather than appointing on basis of seniority, Justice R.T Umar was recommended for appointment at the same time with Hon. Justice A. M. Liman and other Honourable Justice/Khadis mentioned above, she was not given any letter of appointment at the same time with them.
As learnt from a source, she was sworn in on the 7th of December, 2006 which is two years after Justice A. M. Liman and the others were sworn in. Rather than waiting for her turn, Isa Yuguda appointed her the Acting Chief Judge of the State to suit his own parochial interest all to the detriment of the effective and orderly administration of Justice.
“infact I can tell you why the that the governor appointed Umar as the Acting Chief Judge because he knows she do his own bidding, unlike Liman who is a no nonsense person, as he always refused to be used by the State Executive to thwart the rule of law and the Executive has vowed that he will never be the Chief Judge of Bauchi State,” the source said.
“We all know that the choice of Justice Umar will no doubt enable it to amalgamate and manipulate the Judiciary and use it as a tool to do whatever it pleases even if it is against the law.”
The source further said; “that a good example is when the Chief Executive of the State, in a recent exparte orders which Justice Umar granted in Yuguda’s favour in Suit No. BA/04/2015 which was published in the Leadership Newspaper of 20th February.”
Another curious activities carried out the Chief Judge on behalf of the governor is when the Chief Judge Justice Rabi Umar in a Press Statement issued on 27th March said; “As part of the efforts to decongest prison in Bauchi, the State Acting Chief Judge, Justice Rabi Umar Wednesday discharged 30 prison inmates at jail delivery exercise held at the Bauchi prison.
According to the release it read thus; “A statement signed by the Chief Public Relations Officer of Bauchi Command of the Nigerian Prison Service, Assistant Superintendent Adam Jibrin and made available to press today, said the Chief Judge reviewed cases of awaiting trial inmates.
He explained that the jail delivery exercise was done in order to decongest the inmates’ population in Bauchi state, describing the exercise as a continuous one.”
However, information available to this medium indicate, that majority of the 30 inmates released were not to decongest the prison as said the CJ, however it was alleged the release is to free the Sara Suka boys to work for him during the election.
This medium gathered that the Acting Chief Justice collects N1 million naira every month, but uptil now there is no furniture in the court, no court rooms for High court judges.
The Court in the State, when there is no PHCN light, there will be no diesel to power their Generator, aside that states like Jigawa, Gombe who were created recently, have High Court and Magistrate Court Complex, but in the case of Bauchi there is none.
This medium gathered that the High Court Judges are shearing court rooms, for instance, universalreporters247.com learnt that Justice Aliyu Baba Usman and Justice Yeni Bogoro are sharing court room, also Justice Gurama and Justice Sambo are sharing court rooms, just to mention but a few.
Curiously in order to continue to use this woman Acting Chief Judge to perpetrate his self aggrandizement has refused to appoint a substantive Chief Judge.
For instance in his bid to punish any Judge who is not doing his bid, Governor Yuguda, on 22nd July 2010 through the then Secretary to the State Government in a letter with reference number GO/SS/OFF/S/60/T/12, which as signed by Abubakar Y. Sulieman requested for the retrieval of Vehicles and Plant allocated to Justice Haruna Tsammani just two days before he was made a Court of Appeal Judge, it was gathered that Justice Haruna’s sin was simply because he rule in a case that was not in favour to Governor Yuguda.
