The pioneer chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi, yesterday insisted on the reinstatement of Justice Isa Ayo Salami, the suspended President of the Court of Appeal.

He said his insistence had pitched him against the government.

Justice Akanbi spoke with reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

It was part of activities to mark his 50 birthday.

He said: "I have talked so much on the reinstatement of Salami that I'm being made the enemy of government. If you see injustice anywhere, Islam prescribes that if you can fight to correct injustice, fight; if you cannot fight, use your tongue to correct it. I can't see injustice being done to any man without talking even if the man is not my relation. May God help President Goodluck Jonathan to continue to tread the path of honour and rectitude."

On the rot in the judiciary, the eminent jurist said: "The calibre and quality of those appointed into the judiciary should be thoroughly examined. The method of appointment should be revised, so that we get the best. If you want to be a judge like the Catholic priest you must take vow of purity, vow of poverty. You are not expected to be that fabulously rich. But they are a contented people, what they are paying them today they should be alright. We hear stories that they are being corrupt. Not too long ago, I met with my brother, Justice Eso and he said even the ICPC I left they have spoilt it for me. And I retorted that they spoilt it for Nigeria. That is why people are now casting aspersion that the judiciary is not working for the common man. In fact, it is not working for the uncommon people.

"The judiciary is my constituency and for several years I restrained myself from making address on the judiciary. But I'm beginning to have my fears, which occur to me to ask 'are we getting the right calibre of judicial officers on the Bench?' I want to use this opportunity to tell journalists to focus more on the goings on within the judiciary so that we can have a better judiciary, because if the judiciary is finished this country is finished."

On the helplessness of ICPC and EFCC, Justice Akanbi said: "Since I left the ICPC, I haven't stepped the office for one day because of the way things were going. We laid a very solid foundation on very hard circumstances. But the person who took over from me believes more in enlightenment and public education which I believe NOA, the Mallams, the clerics are doing.

"In my time, the then Attorney-General was late Bola Ige, the man gave me absolute support, he gave me the first team of lawyers to prosecute my cases. He never for one day interfered with my work. Then Akin Olujimi came on board, it was the same thing. Olujimi had appeared before me on several occasions on the Ibadan bench. He has tremendous respect for me.

On the clamour for State Police, he said it is a recipe for Nigeria's disintegration.

To Justice Akanbi, who is also a former President of the Court of Appeal, Nigeria needs effective police and re-orientation.

He said: "I don't support state police. It is a gradual disintegration of society. Those people who are not thinking of a united Nigeria and how we will develop this country are the ones advocating state police. When they divide the police, Customs, judiciary, immigration etc, at the end of the day there will be no Nigeria.

"The question of state police is not the issue that bothers Nigeria now. What we need is an effective police, police reorientation, police that will appreciate commitment to the nation and not to the individual."

His words: "I was a state counsel. I worked with the police. I was in private practice, I confronted the police, as a judge. I dealt with matters relating to the police. Honestly, even former Nigeria Bar Association's President Joseph Daudu advocating state police said 'when we set it up we can now study the parameters and see how we can put it through.' You don't take a dangerous risk.

"We should study the parameters first and see whether the thing is workable or not. As far as I'm concerned, I lived in the era of the Yandokas (local government police). The operation then was phenomenal. If you had seen the oppression the local government police were meting out to people then, then we will think twice about state police.

"Most of the states cannot even pay workers' salaries. When states cannot pay workers' salaries, then how would they fund police? How do we get a police that will look at the governor in the face and say 'no' I can't do what you said I should do. By the time they put some Naira notes in his pockets he is finished."

The former Appeal Court president added that his insistence on Justice Isa Ayo Salami's reinstatement as Appeal Court President had made him enemy of the government.