For delivering judgment without fear or favour in a particular case, a newly retired High Court judge of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ifiok Ukana, said he was chased by operatives of the Nigerian secret police, the State Security Service (SSS) also known as DSS, for two years.
Justice Ukana said this in Uyo during a valedictory service organised for him on February 25 by the Akwa Ibom state judiciary. He said he knows that times are bad in Nigeria and that he has paid for his casket, in case he was killed.
He said the Chief Judge of his Akwa Ibom state, Justice Godwin Abraham, whom he said is his friend and a born again Christian like him, refused to come to his aid when he reported the matter to him and that the SSS’ action was one of the most agonising moments in his life as a judge.
The now retired Justice Ukana said Mr Abraham had, at some point when he was seeking for his intervention, retorted, “Who will believe you that these men are after you?”
“The last two and a half years for me has been one of great pain and regret,” the retired judge said to a large audience which comprised judges, lawyers, politicians and ordinary Nigerians who came out to honour him.
“I have shared with many of my learned brothers and they know my travails on the bench.
“The SSS was released against me from July 2017 up till this morning. If you come to my neighbourhood you’ll see them there. What are they looking for? What is their mission?
“I sit next to the chief judge, a believer, and a friend. But I regret to say in this moment of trial, he did not come to my aid.
“Several learned brothers raised the issue pointblank, I complained (to the chief judge) but the retort he made at a particular occasion left me pained, he said, ‘Who will believe you that these men are after you?’
Premium Times reports that, Mr Ukana had put aside his prepared speech for the valedictory service and chose to speak extempore. Many people considered his remarks as being rare in the history of Akwa Ibom judiciary and an open rebuke on the state chief judge.
Continuing, Mr Ukana said, “Ask anybody in my church, I don’t belong to the group that fancy long life, particularly in a country like Nigeria.
“In this country, a serving attorney general was killed and nothing happened!
“Let me reveal to you, I had to pay for my casket. I had to because these same men masquerading can kill me anytime,” he said.
The retired judge gave a little insight into the case he said prompted the SSS to trail him.
“If a matter is decided and the principal litigant did not like it, why did he not appeal? Why resort to guerilla tactics and abuse of state authority to intimidate, to harass and cause me sleepless nights?” he said.
“A judge cannot be subservient, there is only one oath of allegiance which is to dispense justice without fear or favour, with ill will to none. And if I have done that and somebody sitting somewhere believing he is connected politically and hide under the shadow of rehabilitation into a new caucus and do this to me, then he has failed.
“The rehabilitation is one thing, being fully in control is another thing.”
According to Premium Times, three persons who are knowledgeable about the case in question said that the retired judge was referring to a case in which a former governor of Akwa Ibom State allegedly had interest but they declined to provide further details.
Justice Ukana said Nigeria was going through turbulent times and that lawyers must “spend sleepless nights” to think of how to salvage the country.
“All of us will not join the ruling party, all of us will not join the opposition either. But some of us will remain the conscience of the society – men who are driven by higher goals that will reform our society.
“If we are privileged to have three square meals, let us remember those living next to us who cannot afford one meal. High fences, iron gates, protectors are useless if the masses revolt,” Mr Ukana said.