Supreme Court has been pending for five years, alleging yearly adjournments during the said period. Sagay said: “I have not really tried to run them down. “What I have tried to do is to show them, direct them to the way.
“The Supreme Court, particularly, was handling affairs of the judiciary in the (Justice Chukwudifu) Oputa, (Justice Kayode) Eso years, which brought them great fame.”
Asked to respond to not too-salutary comments that attended a few judgments in some quarters, the elder statesman said: “I’m worried. I have written, I have spoken. “I’m quite unpopular with quite a number of judges, because of that.
“In fact, a former CJN, who was my young student at Ife (University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University) at one stage stopped taking my calls, because of anger at my fair comments on the judiciary. “Not only that, he did quite a number of other things to me.”
He added: “I have a case in the Supreme Court which, for some strange reasons, a date for hearing is fixed every year. “When we get there, they will adjourn it to the following year without hearing. “This has been going on for up to five years now; every year.
“I wrote to him about it. At the time I wrote to him, he had been nominated as acting CJN, but not yet confirmed by the National Assembly.
“By the time the letter got to him, the confirmation occurred. “So, it’s just like getting the letter a day after confirmation. I wrote it before confirmation.
“He told the Registrar (of the Supreme Court) to write back to me that the letter I wrote to him was not properly addressed. “My own student told the Registrar to write to me that the letter I wrote to him was not properly addressed! “So, I had to swallow that insult, and I now wrote to him as the CJN.
He never replied. Even the one I wrote addressing him according to his title – his newly acquired title – he did not reply up till today; until he retired.
“That shows you the level of hatred some members of the judiciary have directed towards me, because of my views on issues. “I have not really tried to run them down.
“What I have tried to do, is to show them, direct them to the way the Supreme Court was handling affairs of the Judiciary in the (Justice Chukwudifu) Oputa, (Justice Kayode) Eso years, which brought them great fame.
“Such international fame that, in fact, I had to write a book on it. “This was what I was trying to do; not to run them down. “We need to have confidence in our judiciary. It’s very important.”
