30.9.2026
Retiring Supreme Court judge, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa has warned judicial officers to refrain from accepting Greek gifts from politicians and litigants to protect the judiciary’s neutrality and impartiality.
Saulawa gave the warning Tuesday in Abuja during a special court session at the Supreme Court to mark his retirement from the apex court’s Bench upon attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.
According to Justice Saulawa, judicial officers must imbibe a culture of contentment, integrity, morality, and honesty to discharge their responsibilities without fear or favour.
“Gifts , especially from politicians can be tempting and irresistible but that judges must be firm in rejecting such offers because they are associated with dangers that can make one to fall into traps in the dispensation of justice,” he said.
He recalled his days on the Magistrate’s Court Bench in Katsina when a prominent fuel and motor dealer, Alhaji Ali Bagobiri donated a Peugeot 504 Car to him which he said, was bluntly rejected.
Justice Saulawa said that the motor dealer went to the extent of seeking the intervention of the Emir, Alhaji Muhammadu Kabir Usman and prominent indigenes with a view to persuading and influencing him to accept the car gift but which he flatly refused.
He added that in the later days, the same fuel and motor dealer and his accomplice ran foul of the law and were arraigned before him in the Magistrate Court.
Saulawa said that he later found the culprits guilty and they were sentenced to N7,000 fine each as punishment.
He, therefore, charged judicial officers not to succumb to accepting any form of gift in the course of performing their duties so as not to compromise or derail in the course of adjudication.
He praised his brother Justices on the Supreme Court bench for the love, affection and experience shared together in the discharge of their duties and encouraged them to continue to protect the integrity of the judiciary. NAN