By Abdulrasheed Ibrahim
After the swearing-in of Hon. Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, (GCON), first as the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the 23rd August 2024 upon the retirement of the immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola (GCON), there was this debate initiated by Mr Donald Duke, a former Governor of Cross River State, who is also a lawyer that the swearing in of an Acting CJN is unnecessary or not in accordance with the law. The contention split the legal community into two schools of thought of necessity and non-necessity.
The intervention of Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN as contained in his article titled “ ONE CJN , TWO OATHS” on behalf of the school of thought supporting the necessity of oath for an Acting CJN is very interesting and instructive. I pitch my tent with that school of thought. It is not for nothing that lawyers are called the “Learned People” as law is the only profession in the world where its practitioners cannot bid farewell to learning and reading after leaving the four walls of the university. In the interpretation of the law, it is well settled that law can be properly understood or appreciated when a document or a statute is read as a whole and not in reading a particular provision in isolation to the others.
Hon. Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun having taken the second oath as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria, it is pertinent to say that oath of office has marked the beginning of a new era in the Apex Court of Nigeria. Being the second woman to occupy the position in the history of Nigeria, the first being Hon. Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar (Rtd.) who stepped into history by becoming the first female CJN in 2012. Prior to that historical event and even before her elevation as the first female Justice of the Supreme Court, the late Mr. Kehinde Sofola (SAN) had championed the cause for the appointment of female Justices to the Apex Court. The late Learned Silk had in his speech to an august gathering when Hon. Justice Uthman Mohammed was retiring from the Supreme Court, said during the valedictory session in honour of the retiring jurist on the 21st February 2005 that:
“In Nigeria, so far, the Supreme Court remains an all-male group. In the High courts, we have female judges. In the Court of Appeal, we also have female justices. The female judges and justices have been performing well. In civilized countries of the world, female Supreme Court judges have been appointed. In this country, we have good, fit and proper female candidates for the Supreme Court some of whom have been superseded by their juniors in appointment to the Supreme Court.”
That same year and precisely on 8th June 2005, Hon. Justice Mariam Aloma Mukthar was sworn- in as a Justice of the Supreme Court along with Hon. Justice Mahmud Mohammed (a former CJN), Hon. Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen ( a former CJN ) and Hon. Justice Ikechi Francis Ogbuagu (Rtd). With that swearing-in of Hon. Justice Mariam Aloma Mukthar as the first female Justice of the Supreme Court, more female Justices have been appointed to the Apex Court in Nigeria including Hon. Justice Olufunlola Oyelola Adekeye (Rtd.), Hon. Justice Mary Ukaego Peter Odili (Rtd.), Hon. Justice Clara Bata Ogunbiyi (Rtd.) Hon. Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun (incumbent CJN), Hon. Justice Amina Adamu Augie (Rtd.), Hon. Justice Uwani Musa Abba Aji, and Hon. Justice Helen Morenike Ogunwumiju. In my article published in The Moment Newspaper of July 12, 2012 titled: ALOMA MUKHTAR : MAKING OF FEMALE CHIEF JUSTICE, I had written as follows:
“Hon. Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar stepped into history on the 16th July 2012 when she was sworn-in as the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria. Since 1958 when Sir Adetokunbo Ademola became the first indigenous Chief Justice of Nigeria, all those that came in succession to the office have been male until destiny beckoned to Justice Mukhtar to take over the leadership of the Supreme Court which is the apex court in Nigeria. When talking about being the first in all things particularly on the judicial bench, Justice Mukhtar is truly the first…”
Whenever there is the first, there must be the second. I do not have any doubt in my mind that with the arrival of the new Chief Justice of Nigeria in person of Hon. Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, the tenure of his Lordship will equally be very exciting and pleasant just like that of the first. The legal profession particularly the judiciary is being faced with a lot of challenges that require urgent attention and necessary reforms. It is a good thing that the new CJN has identified corruption as the major problem and has expressed the willingness and determination not to tolerate it in any form.
Hon. Justice Amina Adamu Augie, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court recently opened a can of worms on her experience when his lordship was the Presiding Justice of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal where she was threatened by some staff in the registry who had become very daring and turned themselves to cabals and ring leaders with godfathers in the system having spent decades in the registry where they had been manipulated things to their own whims and caprices in favour of some members of the bar that were paying to have their ways to frustrate the system . The revelation had actually exposed the true state of things in most court registries where a lot of unpleasant things are being perpetrated. The retired JSC said it all and what is needed in that direction is serious reform that will make the system to be better and work efficiently for all. The reality of the situation reflects in the words of the new CJN :
“The attitude of some of us in the justice sector is less than salutary and that has, to a large extent, contributed to the current image deficit of the country’s legal system. Forum shopping by some of our legal practitioners is rampant. It is such acts that often give rise to the emergence of conflicting orders by courts of coordinate jurisdiction. I would like to state clearly that henceforth ,there will be consequences for any act of indiscretion that could bring the judiciary to disrepute.”
The reality is that lack of consequences and sanctions being meted on perpetrators of such act have continued to worsen the situation, but with the assertion by the new CJN that : “Under my leadership , the judiciary will adhere to the principles of honesty, transparency, and integrity. I call up on judicial officers and members of the Bar to join me in achieving this goal.” Some people often erroneously argue that leadership is the reflection of followership. The fact of the matter is that if the leadership can get it right, why will the followership not get it right? If you have leaders that are honest and ready to lead by example, who are the followers not to follow suit? The problem of this country still remains lack of discipline and patriotism. Until we are ready to get this right, the gnashing of teeth will surely continue.
In the appointment of Judicial Officers and Senior Advocates of Nigeria, the key words should be strictly on merit and not by affinity or influence with the appointors. There may not be anything wrong with the appointors appointing his or her relatives to the position of Judges or Senior Advocates as that is not a new phenomenon in as much as those appointed merit it, but there will surely be problem where they are deliberately chosen or picked over those that have performed better than them during the selection exercise. Deep knowledge of law and the passion for the job are very essential ingredients which should not be ignored when the selection or appointments are being done as failure to do the right things will eventually have negative impact on the system.
Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has raised an issue of serious concern that needs to be addressed by the new CJN. According to him during the ceremony marking the commencement of the new legal year by the Supreme Court :
“May I digress, to humbly request the Chief Justice of Nigeria as the Chairman of NJC to take steps to end the current trend of making the swearing-in of judicial officers a huge funfair filled with pomp and ceremony. The lavish receptions which follow these swearing-in ceremonies are becoming worrisome. They unduly expose judicial officers to the politicians and other politically exposed persons.The public mingling and fraternization of judicial officers and such politicians and other politically exposed at the events do not paint a good image of the judiciary .This becomes more worrisome in the light of the perception that politicians will do anything to influence judges and their decisions. We are therefore of the view that the overly publicised and widely attended swearing-in ceremonies being organised by such newly sworn-in judicial officers are robbing the offices they occupy of solemnity and discreet nature they deserve. Both the swearing-in and celebrations should be solemn events held in private while receptions should be court-sponsored luncheons for the newly sworn-in judicial officers. The judiciary must show a reluctance to mimic the public exhibition of affluence, wanton display of wealth , and public celebrations.”
I entirely concur with the NBA President on this great concern. In addition, the CJN should remind the serving judicial officer to be mindful of public celebration of birthday and sometime laced with launching of the books written by or on behalf of serving judicial officers as if such practice is allowed to continue wherein people in attendance make donations to the celebrants, how will such serving Judicial Officers defend any allegation of bias when it arises in the course of discharging their judicial duties knowing the kind of country we live where even any cough of a serving judicial officer could be made an issue on appeal or in the social media .The newly appointed and serving judicial officer could be advised that such elaborate ceremonies should be left to the days they are retiring from service or thereafter. It must be emphasized that there is nothing wrong in serving judicial officers writing and publishing books through publishers for sale to the members of the profession and to the general public,but issues may arise when such books are planned to be launched in public.
As confirmed by the new CJN, the Supreme Court of Nigeria still remains the one busiest in the world with the upsurge in the litigation that has kept the docket of the court full.The reason for this is not far fetched because many legal practitioners have turned litigation practice to an instrument of oppression and frustration rather than that of justice all in the bid to attain the rank of the Senior Advocates of Nigeria. The new CJN having admitted the fact that: “ The docket of the Supreme Court is unnecessarily clogged by legal practitioners seeking to attain the rank by making up the required number of judgments from the court whereas many appeals do not contribute to our jurisprudence”.
The cases to be considered for the award of SAN must be cases with very unique substance and not those that are argued up to the Supreme Court for the fun of it. Allowing legal tussles rooted in the dispute of who should be the head of a village or ownership of fish ponds or case bothering on twelve goats as once referred to by the retired Hon. Justice Amina Augie (JSC) to finding their ways to the Supreme Court is like undermining the essence of the institution as a court of policy.
With the new trend in the Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism, litigants must be educated on the need to embrace arbitration as a better way of settling their disputes rather than by litigation which may be very unfriendly and time consuming. The new CJN has alluded to this fact that: “ the culture of litigating every disagreement and appealing every lost case , no matter how trivial , contributes significantly to the backlog of pending appeals in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal .This trajectory is unsustainable for a nation striving for economic development and human capital growth .Educating Nigerians on the benefits of of alternative dispute resolution is a collective task for all stakeholders in justice sector. In this regard, concerted efforts are being made to ensure that the Supreme Court Mediation Centre becomes operational to make the desired impact in the new legal year.”
The Supreme Court should largely be a Constitutional Court and not a court of jack of all trades. As long as it does not turn its back to all kinds of cases that come before it, it will become a court where every Harry, Dick and Tom will want to submit their cases to.
NOTE: Anyone is at liberty to disagree with my above submissions as I will surely appreciate a balanced, fair and objective rebuttal.
08055476823, 0816468375:
abdurasheedibrahim362@gmail.com
11th October 2024
