Why judges should be poor than perverting justice in wealth – Gov Ayade

Ben Ayade, the Cross River State Governor, has revealed why it's
better for judges to be poor while upholding the law, than to be rich
and get their names soiled.

He said it was better for judges to remain poor and uphold justice
than, "to have all the wealth and have your soul enslaved to your
conscience because you have perverted justice."

Speaking on Thursday while swearing in three High Court judges, at the
state executive chamber, Calabar, the state capital, Ayade cautioned
them against perverting justice.

The judges who took their oaths of allegiance and office in the
presence of the Deputy governor, Prof Ivara Esu, Chief Judge of the
state, Hon Justice Michael Edem, members of the state executive
council include: Justices Emmanuel Agiampuye Ubua, Obo Awusa Obo and
Imelda Bassey Etape.

Ayade charged them to take the appointments as great task and
responsibility, noting that a "lean liberty is better than fat
slavery."

He said, "You had rather stay in your poverty as a judge than to have
all the wealth and have your soul enslaved to your conscience because
you have perverted justice."

The governor challenged the new judges to a new thinking and
philosophy where law will be driven by a true African heritage.

He stressed the need for the judges to see arbitration as the
alternative to conflict resolution and the most welcome concept in
modern legislative and legal practice, especially where court is
structured to deliver judgement instead of peace.

He said, "The judiciary requires men of honour and integrity, who
appreciate true value and honour, who understand ethics and morality
and the science that man is a spiritual being. In whatever you do,
there will be a time where your deeds will be accounted for."

Ayade maintained that as judges whose responsibility is to decide
whether a man's freedom will be taken or not and if a penalty or fine
will be given, there is need to look at the social nexus of every
crime as, "we must advance as a nation and advance as humanity to a
greater goal, a higher philosophy and a high essence of being."

According to the governor, "As long as we rely on documentations and
turn ourselves to mathematical computers that interpret a code,
section or subsection of the law and dish out penalty without
understudying the real sociology of a crime, we would fail as a
people. There are certain simple human crimes that must be considered
outside the boundaries and beacons of law."