The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has faulted remarks attributed to the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, over the construction of residential quarters for judges and justices in Abuja.

Wike rejected the NBA’s position that the projects, which are expected to be inaugurated this month by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, amounted to executive interference in the affairs of the judiciary.

The minister spoke after inspecting ongoing judicial infrastructure projects in Abuja, including judges’ residences, the Court of Appeal Abuja Division, and proposed residential projects for judges of the National Industrial Court and the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

He criticised the NBA for suggesting that the provision of facilities for judicial officers by government could threaten judicial autonomy.

“I don’t want to reply to what he said. He has never said anything well. The judiciary is to interpret and adjudicate cases. We have built public houses, both for the National Assembly and for the judiciary. The Supreme Court was built by us here. So, there’s nothing new. The mere fact that the executive constructs does not mean it will interfere with the judiciary. It’s unfortunate,” Wike said.

The minister also accused the NBA leadership of inconsistency, saying the association regularly seeks financial support from state governments for its conferences and activities while criticising government interventions in the judiciary.

“It is not for the NBA President to comment on what the executive is doing. All he is interested in is when they will go and apply to state governments to sponsor NBA activities. Is that not interference? If governments fund their conferences, does that mean they are no longer independent? We are focused, we’ll go ahead,” he said.

Wike insisted that the FCT Administration would not be distracted from carrying out projects aimed at improving the welfare and working conditions of judges and justices.

According to him, the provision of residential accommodation for judicial officers is a voluntary intervention by the government to make them more comfortable and enable them to focus on their work.

The minister expressed satisfaction with the level of work at the judges’ quarters, describing the project as 99 per cent ready for inauguration.

However, Wike was not pleased with the finishing at the Court of Appeal Abuja Division project, saying it did not meet the quality he expected.

“It’s not the quality I expected. Anybody who knows me knows it’s not the quality I expected. And I’ve told the contractor there are so many errors that should be corrected. I didn’t expect that the contractor would not have performed better than this. We still have opportunities for them to make amendments before the inauguration. But by and large, Abuja will have a division of the Court of Appeal,” he said.

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