Former Justice of the Supreme Court, Hon. Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte, has said the National Assembly should not to consider itself more powerful than the Nigerian populace.
Justice Karibi-Whyte stated this yesterday at the Founders’ Day Lecture of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) in Abuja.
He said: “The National Assembly should not consider itself more powerful than the people of Nigeria, because the people are the custodians of the law.”
Justice Karibi-Whyte, who is also a fellow of the institute, presented a lecture titled: “In the Eyes of the Law”, said the ultimate power of the state resided with the people.
Invariably referring to the ongoing National Conference, which some stakeholders had suggested its outcome be subjected to the ratification of the National Assembly for it to have constitutional relevance.
In his lecture, Justice Karibi-Whyte cleared the air on the issue of some of the landmark judgments of the Supreme Court which attracted mixed reactions from various quarters, as a result of the perceived impropriety of these decisions.
He said: “The position that judges take is what in cases before them at the Supreme Court in the course of interpretation is what we should abide by whether rightly or wrongly. Judges may not be right all the time but we must continue to respect them otherwise there will be lawlessness in the society”.
Commending Justice Karibi-Whyte for his insightful analysis of the topic, the Director General of NIALS, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, said: “The paper s insightful and in-depth in analysis. The author no doubt brings his invaluable years of experience to bear in composing the paper. This lecture which is a befitting tribute to our founding fathers would benefit lawyers and the general public.”
