JUSTICE OKE WARNS MAGISTRATES AGAINST EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE.#PRESS RELEASE.

       Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Opeyemi Oke has admonished the newly appointed Magistrates in the State Judiciary to disregard all forms of interference in the discharge of their duties, warning that such intrusions could jeopardise true judicial processes.

Justice Oke gave the charge at the opening of the induction programme for newly appointed magistrates at Lagos State Judiciary Training School GRA, Ikeja Lagos.

She said the programme was designed to equip the participants with relevant knowledge prior to the induction programme that will subsequently be organised by the National Judicial Institute, Abuja for newly appointed Judges of the lower bench across the Country.

“The induction programme is in satisfaction of the objectives and functions of the Institute as contained in the applicable provisions of the Lagos State Judicial Institute Law,” she said.

Speaking on the expectations of the legal profession from the appointees, Justice Oke said that the magistrates are expected to be impartial arbiters in the temple of justice and should serve justice to all without fear, favour or being mindful of litigants’ social status or class.

In her words, “Judicial impartiality is a supreme judicial virtue that goes contemporaneously with judicial independence and these are some of the greatest attractions of the judiciary.”

She reminded the magistrates that the faithful performance of their duties is the bedrock on which peace, freedom, and order in any given society thrive, saying that when the society’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary is unshaken, then the rule of law blossoms.