Supreme Court justices not above errors, says Chief Justice of Nigeria

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, has  said  Supreme Court justices  are human beings and human beings will always make mistakes.

According to a statement by the apex court’s Director of Press and Information, Dr Festus Akande, Justice Muhammad stated this during a courtesy visit to the Supreme Court by members of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria on Tuesday.

He was quoted as saying, “We can’t claim to know it all. We are still learning because learning, as we all know, is continuum. Our doors are wide open for constructive criticisms. Even our grammar, punctuations have  to be corrected to avoid any error in the rulings and judgments we give.”

According to the CJN,  what every right-thinking judge needs to do is to cultivate the culture of patience and acceptability so they do not erroneously assume to be a repository of knowledge and wisdom.

Justice Muhammad said, “The rules provide that each judge should give  their  own independent judgment but they are equally at liberty to adopt what has been offered.

“(There is) no coercion, no intimidation and no compelling force to make any judge align with the opinions and views of others. We are very free to maintain our stance and even present a dissenting judgement if we feel opposed to a popular view.”

– Punch