Honourable Justice Nathan Musa, the Chief Judge of Adamawa state has retired from the Bench of the High Court of Justice having attained the age of 65.
In a valedictory speech Friday, delivered by the FCT Abuja High Court Judge, Lord Hussaini Abubakar Musa, the retired High Court Judge Nathan was described as an indefatigable, incorruptible and fearless Judge with the spirit of fairness whose success lies in leaving formidable successors.
According to Justice Hussaini, “it is on record that during his term, he facilitated the appointment of four Judges of the High Court Bench, two Kadis of the Sharia Court of Appeal, two Judges of the Customary Court of Appeal, thirty-nine Magistrates, two Inspectors of Area Courts, Chief Registrar for the Customary Court of Appeal, two Deputy Chief Registrars for the Customary Court of Appeal, four Deputy Chief Registrars for the High Court, one Director and one Deputy Director for the High Court, one Deputy Chief Registrar for the Sharia Court of Appeal, one Director and one Deputy Director of the Sharia Court of Appeal.
“It must bear mentioning to My Noble Lord’s eternal credit that one hundred and six (106) Registrars were converted to Judges and members of Area Court. I cannot end this encomium on My Lord’s obsession with grooming leaders without bringing to your attention the fact that My Lord has activated the process of the appointment of additional four High Court Judges, one Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal and one Judge of the Customary Court of Appeal. As the late Bahamian Christian evangelist, author, lecturer, teacher and motivational speaker, Myles Munroe, wrote in one of his books, “True leaders don’t invest in buildings…. They invest in people. Why? Because success without a successor is failure. So your legacy should not be in buildings, programmes or projects; your legacy must be in people.”
Lord Hussaini described Lord Nathan as one without tragic flaws having schooled to adopt the Shakespearean characterisation, having been reminded to also consider the other side of the coin for a metaphor of the human kind living in paradoxical life.
“My daughter asked what I was working on at this far time of the night. I informed her that I got a notice to deliver a goodwill message for a noble jurist who did us proud in the Adamawa State Judiciary.
“She said oh that is great but don’t forget to include where he has failed too, even though a speech of this nature is usually full of praises, successes, encomiums and laurels without failures.
“When she left, I ruminated on what she said, went back to my writeup and on what my lord has done, to see the failures, after all there is nothing wrong in periscoping the errors of a leader or ruler to see if he did well or failed woefully.
“After all, a King was weighed on a scale of balance to determine whether he performed, he was found wanting and got the notorious slogan -mene mene tekel upharsin – meaning thou art weighed in the balances and are found wanting.
“Unfortunately I have periscoped all my Lord’s sojourn and he was not found wanting at all. My Lord, you have come, saw and conquered.
“It reminds me of a saying of Oscar Wilde where he said “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious, Hussaini testified.”
Read below the full text of the farewell speech…
GOODWILL MESSAGE DELIVERED BY HONOURABLE JUSTICE HUSSAINI ABUBAKAR MUSA AT THE SPECIAL VALEDICTORY SESSION OF THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE OF ADAMAWA STATE IN HONOUR OF HONOURABLE JUSTICE NATHAN MUSA, THE CHIEF JUDGE OF ADAMAWA STATE ON HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE BENCH OF THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE ON THE 2ND DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2022.
PROTOCOLS
When William Shakespeare spoke through Malvolio and made this timeless statement in Twelfth Night Act 2 Scene 5, he did not know that his words would continue to resonate through centuries and across generations long after he had bidden farewell to this temporal abode. Shakespeare had written: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.”
My Lord, though a single person, cannot but be categorized under the three compartments of greatness Malvolio identifies in one of Shakespeare’s most loved classics. This can be seen from his progression through his birth right up to this moment. He was born great. Those that know him will readily concede to this fact. Through dint of diligence and determination, he achieved another dimension of greatness, passing through primary school in search of the Golden Fleece and topping the entire expedition with a law degree and admission into the Nigerian Bar. And, at the right time, he had greatness thrust on him, first as an Honourable Judge of the High Court of Adamawa State, then, as an Acting Chief Judge of the State and finally as a substantive Chief Judge.
Born on the 6th of September, 1957 at Kala’a, in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State, My Noble Lord received his primary education at Kala’a Primary School. Graduating in 1971, he had a brief spell at Naraguta Grammar School in Jos, Plateau State before proceeding to Ahmadiyya Secondary School, in Kano, Kano State where he obtained his Senior School Certificate in 1977. His unquenchable quest for knowledge saw him undergoing the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) programme at the School of Basic Studies, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in 1978. This platform provided the lift which propelled him to the Faculty of Law, Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he read Law, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from that prestigious institution in 1981. The Nigerian Law School beckoned that same year and, in 1982, My Noble Lord was called to the Nigerian Bar as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria after he successfully completed the programme and passed the Bar Examinations.
His Lordship’s career also progressed methodically as an eloquent testimonial to his natural flair for hard work, discipline, diligence and honesty. Between 1982 and 1983 he underwent the compulsory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme at Vala Chambers, Mubi, Adamawa State. His stellar performance during his service year was not lost on headhunters who promptly recruited him into the then Gongola State Government as State Counsel II.
My Lord later, in 1987, segued into the Judiciary of the then Gongola State as a Chief Magistrate, serving at Takum and Numan. He also served as a Judge of the Upper Area Court. Diligent, dogged and determined, My Lord rose through the ranks to become the Deputy Chief Registrar, High Court of Justice of Adamawa State and later, the Secretary, Judicial Service Commission of Adamawa State. In 2003, his diligence, determination, honesty and probity paid off as he was elevated to the Bench of the High Court of Adamawa State.
In 2013, he was appointed the Acting Chief Judge of Adamawa State, a position he held pending the appointment of a substantive Chief Judge.
Undeterred, knowing that there is always a purpose for every event in human life, My Lord continued to serve the State, and by extension the nation, as a Judge of the High Court of Adamawa State with diligence and honesty until his eventual appointment as the Acting Chief Judge of the State in 2021 and his appointment as the substantive Chief Judge in 2022.
From a very young age, His Lordship exhibited applauded leadership traits, which commended him to further heights of responsibility. He was an active member of the Student Union Government whilst in school, holding diverse positions of responsibility in the process. As a State Counsel and later, as a member of the lower Bench of the Adamawa State Judiciary, he served variously as the Counsel to Justice Mahmud Commission of Inquiry into the Student Riot at Government Science Secondary School, Hong, Chairman, Revenue Recovery Tribunal, Yola and Chairman, Rent Tribunal, Mubi Zone. As an Honourable Member of the High Court Bench, My Noble Lord has served, over the years since 2007, as a member in the Election Petitions Tribunals for Enugu, Bauchi, Gombe, Bayelsa and Ogun States. These assignments speak forth his commitment, scholarship, erudition and probity.
Though His Lordship has occupied this exalted position of the Chief Judge, a primus inter pares, for a brief space of time, he has however, made tremendous impact, not only on the life of his brother Judges and the members of staff of the Adamawa State Judiciary, but also on the judicial system in the State as a whole.
In his book, Life’s Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way, Fred Rogers tersely opined thus: “Life is for service.” My Lord knows that a life spent in the service of humanity is a life well-spent.
It is on record that during his term, he facilitated the appointment of four Judges of the High Court Bench, two Kadis of the Sharia Court of Appeal, two Judges of the Customary Court of Appeal, thirty-nine Magistrates, two Inspectors of Area Courts, Chief Registrar for the Customary Court of Appeal, two Deputy Chief Registrars for the Customary Court of Appeal, four Deputy Chief Registrars for the High Court, one Director and one Deputy Director for the High Court, one Deputy Chief Registrar for the Sharia Court of Appeal, one Director and one Deputy Director of the Sharia Court of Appeal.
It must bear mentioning to My Noble Lord’s eternal credit that one hundred and six (106) Registrars were converted to Judges and members of Area Court. I cannot end this encomium on My Lord’s obsession with grooming leaders without bringing to your attention the fact that My Lord has activated the process of the appointment of additional four High Court Judges, one Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal and one Judge of the Customary Court of Appeal. As the late Bahamian Christian evangelist, author, lecturer, teacher and motivational speaker, Myles Munroe, wrote in one of his books, “True leaders don’t invest in buildings…. They invest in people. Why? Because success without a successor is failure. So your legacy should not be in buildings, programmes or projects; your legacy must be in people.”
My Lord’s giant stride in human capacity development of the Adamawa State is further emblazoned with commensurate progress in infrastructural development of the State Judiciary through, for instance, the creation of the Mubi Administrative Division during his stint as the Acting Chief Judge in 2013 and the commissioning of High Court No. 2, Mubi, on the 22nd of June, 2022, to enhance accessibility by the people to justice and the timely dispensation of cases.
What His Lordship, the Honourable Chief Judge, has done is to strengthen the Judiciary of Adamawa State and to position it as a formidable and strategic player in the system of administration of justice in the State as well as in Nigeria. By expanding the Judiciary in the State as he has done through the appointment of the judicial officers both on the inferior and superior Benches, as well as the appointment of senior management and administrative officers, My Lord has made the job of his Brother Judges easier as they deliver on their core mandate of ensuring that justice is served to all persons, agencies and government within the State with neither fear nor favour.
This is the definition of a true legacy. It was the author and consultant, Idowu Koyenikan, who writes in his book, Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability, that “Even though your time on the job is temporary, if you do a good enough job, your work there will last forever.” I will say to His Lordship, the Honourable Chief Judge, that though his stint on the exalted seat was short, his impact will continue to reverberate to eternity.
In the same vein, the Pakistani poet, author, journalist and scholar once said that “Continuity in any affair creates curiosity and attention.” The great management guru Peter Drucker expressed this worldview pungently when he tersely said, “There is no success without a successor.” I believe that leadership is a continuum. It is my earnest wish that My Lord’s successors in office will continue to carry on and build on the legacies, which My Lord is bequeathing, like a baton in a relay race, to those coming behind him.
It remains to be mentioned that My Lord did not excel in only the management and administrative aspects of his overall responsibility. My Lord, as a judicial officer, has left his marks firmly entrenched in the sands of time. He has delivered judgments in landmark cases over the years he has sat on the Bench of the High Court of Adamawa State.
Towards the end of this write-up, my first daughter, a student of an architecture Fatima Hussaini Abubakar worked into my study room and saw me still on my desk in the early hours and quipped, if I need any of my favourite green teas (a minimum of three sachet in one big cup or my Riven Alkaline coffee, I replied thanks).
She then asked what I was working on this far time of the night. I informed her that I got a notice to deliver a good will message for a noble jurist who did us proud in the Adamawa State Judiciary. She said oh that is great but don’t forget to include where he has failed too and that a speech of this nature is usually full of praises, successes, encomiums and laurels without failures.
When she left, I ruminated on what she said, went back to my write up and on what my lord has done, to see the failures, after all there is nothing wrong in periscoping the errors of a leader or ruler to see if he did well or failed woefully.
After all, a King was weighed on scale of balance to determine whether he performed, he was found wanting and got the notorious slogan -mene mene tekel upharsin – meaning thou art weighed in the balances and are found wanting.”
Unfortunately I have periscoped all my Lord’s sojourn and he was not found wanting at all. My Lord, you have come, saw and conquered.
It reminds me of a saying of Oscar Wilde where he said “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”
My lord is charming, not tedious. He is an indefatigable Jurist. He is vibrant, valiant, humble, purposive, creative, devoted, tenacious, innovative and a quintessence gentleman at all times. His wit is infectious. His sense of humour is bullet pointed.
As My Lord transits to a quieter life following his attainment of the statutory retirement age of 65, may I remind him that he is merely retired, but not tired. May I also remind him that he is like vintage wine whose value increases with age. I have to warn him that some of us who have been opportune to drink from his well of knowledge and experience will continue to badger him for advice in both our professional and personal lives.
Considering the profundity of his thoughts and the prodigiousness of his experience, I have no doubt in my mind that His Lordship will be called upon from time to time to render service not only to Adamawa State or, even, the Judiciary at large both within and outside the State, but to the nation at large. As someone once wrote, “Retirement is not the end of the world. It is the beginning of the open highway.”
It was M.K. Soni, the erudite Indian professor and author who put it rather succinctly thus: “Retire from work, but not from life.”
I wish My Noble Lord a peaceful and eventful retirement and may he live long to enjoy the fruits of his selfless service.
Thank you.
1 Comment
An excellent speech delivered by Honourable justice Hussaini Abubakar musa at the special valedictory session of the high court of justice of Adamawa state , in honor of Honourable justice Nathan Musa . On his retirement from bench of high Court of justice .