From INIOBONG SUNDAY, Uyo
A retired Appeal Court Judge, Justice Ita Mbaba, has raised the alarm and identified widespread sleaze and corruption as a national anathema plaguing the entire Nigerian system, admitting that though such unwholesome practices are prevalent in the judicial system, a holistic action plan was needed to stem the scourge.
He pointed out that corruption ,lies and other misconducts exhibited by many professionals in their careers are human frailties and traits not only found in the judiciary, but across the entire strata of the country.
Justice Mbaba made the assertion during the presentation and review of one of his books titled; “The Burden of A Judge”, at the February edition of book reading organised by the Uyo Book Book Club ,UBC, held at Warbridge Hotel and Suites, IBB Way, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
He noted that lies and corruption have infiltrated different professions and endangering the entire Nigerian social fabrics.
“Telling lies and indulging in corruption are human frailties. Lies and corruption permeate all professions including the judiciary.It is the inadequacy of man but it can be checked by individuals”, he stressed.
Mbaba whose book was read at the members of UBC to mark his retirement from the Court of Appeal in Delta State, recalled that he wrote the book when he was a Law student at the University of Calabar ,UNICAL, disclosing that he had no premonition of becoming a Judge at the time he wrote the book.
He explained that the muse to write the book came from his cravings to examined challenges face by Judges daily in the course of dispensing justice to the people.
According to him, the intuition came over a disputed parcel of land in his community as the parties struggled to claim ownership with attendant fight and endless litigations, which bothered him so much while he prayed that government should take over the land for peace to reign.
He said: “Today, I am that whom God has answered that prayer. The present Godswill Akpabio’s International Stadium is built on that land. It now becomes a place where an international edifice is built for nations to play instead of fighting and unending litigation in the past.
“When I became a Judge, I tried to organise a programme for Akwa Ibom State Judiciary, trying to bring to the awareness or re created the awareness that a Judge is judging for God.
“Every judicial officer, lawyers , Magistrates and Judges, are working on the temple of Justice and they are there to account for whatever they are doing”.
The Book Reviewer Dr Iboro Nelson said the book is a fictional prose of 104 pages targeting at those seeking for justice and queried the usefulness of law when it turns out to be a weapon to oppress the poor.
The founder of UBC, Dr Udeme Nana, told the readers that the club was founded 10 years ago with the objective to reawaken the reading culture of the people as many people do not have time to read books anymore after graduation.
“Any society that pays less attention to reading degenerates . The aim of this club is to halt a culture of most people who have abandoned reading”.
