A federal high court judge, Justice Mabel Segun-Bello, has revealed the ‘secret’ to becoming a federal judge in Nigeria.
According to her, one needs the backing of the presidency or a political party to ascend to the coveted position.
Speaking at the 2024 Clarity Conference in Abuja on Saturday, Justice Segun-Bello shared her personal journey to the top, revealing that her rise was not without challenges.
She said: “Your condition may be that you come from a poverty stricken background. It is powerful, but you have a will to say you won’t be poverty stricken.
“If I tell you the story of where I come from, two things will happen to you; you will either say I am lying or you will start crying. Note that I am not a state Judge, I am a federal Judge.
“To become a federal judge, you are either backed up by the presidency or helped by a political party. I had none.
“That tells you principles are universal in application. If applied, anything is possible.”
The conference, themed “The Constellation; Gathering of Stars, by Stars and for Stars,” aimed to empower young people to achieve their goals.
Convener of the conference, Atuzie Favour Tuzzi, said, “We did the clarity conference to basically take youths from ideation to implementation. Most people struggle and feel they are not good enough because of the exposure they have had. That is, their early environment, what they saw their peers doing in school.
“This conference aims to address all that,” Tuzzi said.