By Innocent Anaba

LAGOS—Governorship candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Kwara State in the forthcoming general elections, Mr. Dele Belgore, SAN, yesterday, in Lagos,  described himself as the best man for the governorship seat, insisting that the situation in the state calls for immediate change.

Belgore spoke with reporters in Lagos at a special valedictory court session held by the Federal High Court in honour of his late father, Justice Babatunde Belgore, former Chief Judge of the court.

He added that his governorship aspiration was  informed by his conviction that he will provide purposeful and visionary leadership to the people of the state.

Speaking on the ongoing voters registration exercise, Belgore said that the hitches recorded so far was a testimony to the fact that Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was not ready for the exercise.

Chief Judge of the court,  Justice Dan Abutu, described the late Justice Belgore as the true father of the Federal High Court, who did everything possible to ensure the growth of the court, especially, the expansion of the court’s jurisdiction.

The late Belgore served the court for 28, 14 of which was as the Chief Judge.

Abutu said that the late Belgore will be remembered for his landmark judgment in intellectual property, Admiralty, Trademarks and all the subjects within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court.

Attorney General and Lagos State Commissioner of Sustice, Olasupo Sasore, SAN, in his remarks,  recalled that the late Belgore recorded many firsts and several distinctions in his legal career.

Sasore, who advised the judiciary to continue to uphold the dignity of the trial court and resist needless and frivolous appeals, added that the trial court represented by the Federal High court is the “battle ground of the finest advocates, the theatre of a barrister’s greatest trickery and gamesmanship and a ground where shills and wits are best and most potently deployed.

He called on the judiciary to do more to live up to the expectations of the public with respect to the efficiency of the justice system, even as he condemned a situation where thousands of judicial time invested by some best jurists in Nigeria are being wasted by the flood gates of applications challenging jurisdiction.

Also speaking, former President of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Chief  Wole Olanipekun, SAN, described the late Belgore as success personified, great altruism and phenomenon, who left indelible foot prints in the sand of time.

Chief Olanipekun, who spoke on behalf of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, the entire judiciary indeed lost a rare gem, law reformer and humanist with Belgore’s death, stressing that the late jurist remained the great and outstanding legal mind Nigeria has ever produce.