Bako was also indicted in a second petition alleging that he used the powers of his office to intimidate and collected N400, 000 from Fulani herders whose cattle he claimed destroyed his beans farm
By Mohammed Usman
A Magistrate Court Judge in Salka, Magama Local Government Area of Niger State, Alhaji Mohammed Bako Iya, has been dismissed from office for gross misconduct and abuse of judicial powers.
Niger State Judicial Service Commission (NJSC), which penalised him, also demoted two Shariah Court Judges – Abdullahi Nasiru and Mohammed Baba Enagi, serving in Minna, the state capital, and Badeggi Local Government Area, respectively – by one Grade Level (GL) for a related offence.
The Secretary, Niger State Judicial Service Commission, Abdulrahman Ahmed Garafini, who disclosed this to Nigeria News Flight on Wednesday, explained that the essence was to sanitize the judicial arm of the state government.
His words: “Two Sharia Court judges, His Hon. Abdullahi Nasiru, the Sharia Judge of Kotun Bola Minna, and his colleague in Badeggi, Mohammed Baba Enagi, had been demoted for misconduct and abuse of office”.
He also said that as part of rectifications, upgrading and reintegration into the state judicial system, that Nasiru and Enagi were to serve tutelage of one year in other courts.
He further disclosed: “These were part of decisions of the Commission taken at its 136th meeting which took place on March 21, 2023 after considerations of recommendations by committees set up to investigate the petitions against the two judges.”
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The NSJC secretary explained that of the seven petitions, three were against the dismissed Mohammed Bako Iya, adding, “On the course of investigations, two were sufficiently proved by the petitioners.
“According to the findings of the committee, the allegations in the petition including; undue interferences, obstruction of justice and abuse of judicial powers against His Worship Mohammed Bako (the Respondent) were sufficiently proved by the petitioner.
“The respondent, His Worship Mohammed Bako, unequivocally admitted the allegations.”
Garafini added that the report and recommendations of the Justice Mohammed Mohammed-led committee also indicted Mohammed Bako for jettisoning his call as a judicial officer by representing and shielding a suspect, Saba Idris, from arrest by the police and the court.
Bako was also indicted in a second petition alleging that he used the powers of his office to intimidate and collected N400, 000 from Fulani herders whose cattle he claimed destroyed his beans farm.
The committee also discovered that Mohammed Bako was a judge in his own case and used the instruments of his office to facilitate a gainful benefit for his personal interests and private affairs against the provisions of the NSJC order.
He said, “The NJSC approved the recommendations of the committee dismissing Mohammed Bako Iya, while also demoting Sharia Court judges, His Hon. Abdullahi Nasiru and Mohammed Baba Enagi, for misconduct and abuse of office with immediate effect”.
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