The head of A.T Socio-Judicial Consulting, LLC, a New York based legal consulting firm an organisation that holds series of symposiums that bothers on judiciaries, Ari Tobi-Aiyemo said judges are veritable tools who changes the society through their decisions.
In a video which was obtained by CAPITAL POST in Abuja, Ari Tobi-Aiyemo who was the first black woman to earn a PhD in judicial studies submitted that those who criticise judges and accuse them of wrongdoings need to understand how law is interpreted for them to rightly aggregate their perception of judges with how a judge of competent jurisdiction interpreted laws.
She said those who accused judges of taking bribe might not be correct in certain situation as onus of ensuring justice is served to the society lies on judges.
Ari Tobi-Aiyemo bared her mind preparatory to a symposium which held on 2nd December, 2021 in honour of her late father, the late Justice Niki Tobi at the National Judicial Institute, Abuja, Nigeria.
The late Justice Niki Tobi moved from academic to the bench and rose from the High Court to the Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He retired as the second most Senior Judge in Nigeria as next to the Chief Justice and died on June 16, 2016.
Meanwhile, the “Hon. Justice Niki Tobi Biennial Symposium”, which held on 2nd December drew legal luminaries from various nations who spoke on diverse topics in the field of law and jurisprudence.
Continuing, Tobi-Aiyemo said Judges are humans like many others who also have their failties, but said, judges have much more than interpreting laws I this 21st century.
She said: “If we ask ourselves, what do Courts really do? How valuable are judges to the society? You people say oh, that stupid judge, oh that judge took a bribe, oh, that judge doesn’t know the law and they may be right and at other times, they may be wrong.
“What determines what is right or what is wrong? Justice they say is in the eyes of the beholder. In the 21st century, justice is neither right right nor wrong. It’s what is appropriate at such at such a time within a certain case.
“Now judges have a role to determine justice in every case. However, having been able to understand that judges do more than just determine a case, judges are human beings just like many of us.
“They are not super humans as the society expects them to be. The other times, as judges performs their role, judges have super hero expectations from the society. At other times, you see judges thriving so hard to make sure that justice is impactful to the society.
“Often times, you hear people say judges don’t make laws; judges are just there to adjudicate, I beg to disagree, judges do more than adjudicating. In the 21st century, judges have so much to do.
“In interpreting the law, we take our books and begin to read and understand and trying to explain what the law say to this individual. The judge goes through each page and try to understand and analyse. A lot of time, they spend their tireless nights, give up their weekends; give up their holidays trying to understand what the law is to the society.
“Judges do not just interprete laws, judges impact the society for change. So when society begins to query and question a judge, oh, he took bribe, oh he didn’t understand the law; they do not understand what it means to be a judge and how many of those who applied to become judges really understand what is a role of a judge?
“Judges are members of the society that we live in. They go to the same market; they go to the same stores, they visit the same places that we visit; they attend the same churches and markets that we go to. A lot of time, they put themselves in the place of empathy to see how their decision can be of value to the society.
“A.T Socio-Judicial Consulting, LLC is a company that is set out to apply judicial jurisprudence in advancing judiciaries of many communities in many societies and nations.
