Panelists at an event in Abuja on Tuesday have tossed up a five-point agenda to the incoming Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun on reforming the judiciary. They want her to sanitize the judiciary and restore public confidence in the third arm of government. The panelists comprising two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN)
Panelists at an event in Abuja on Tuesday have tossed up a five-point agenda to the incoming Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun on reforming the judiciary. They want her to sanitize the judiciary and restore public confidence in the third arm of government.
The panelists comprising two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) and notable activists charged the incoming CJN, to reform judicial appointments so that nepotism and favouritism would have no role to play again.
Among the panelists are two professors of law, Ernest Ojukwu, SAN, and Samuel Erugo, SAN, human rights activist Ms. Aisha Yesufu, and other justice stakeholders.
They also want the incoming CJN to rise to the challenge of arresting the issuance of conflicting judgments and orders by courts of coordinate jurisdiction in the interest of the judiciary and people.
They charged the new head of the judiciary with focusing on discipline and accountability as a way of restoring the public interest in the judiciary.
The panelists suggested that the CJN nominee should carry out surgical operations in the handling of election petitions and political cases which they argued had dampened the belief of Nigerians in the judiciary with the sad experience of the recent past.
They want Justice Kekere-Ekun to reform the apex court, the Supreme Court, in such a way that only cases of national importance would be lodged at the apex court while minor matters should be made in the reform to terminate at the lower courts.
Earlier, the Executive Director of Tap Initiative, organisers of the event, Mr. Martin Obono, observed that the National Judicial Council (NJC), which oversees the appointment of judges came under heavy criticism, especially with the outgoing CJN, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who was accused of appointing his family members and relatives as well as children and relatives of former justices into the bench.
While alleging that the Council disregarded its guidelines over recent appointments, Mr. Obono claimed that: “there have been reports of insider subversion of the applicable rules governing judicial appointments, such as the reported appointments in one instance of a candidate who scored zero in the NJC interview”.
He, therefore, urged the incoming CJN: “to commit explicitly to a policy of restoring integrity and merit to judicial appointments”, stressing that achieving this would entail the introduction of transparent processes of selection, advertisement of judicial vacancies as well as the nomination of candidates, interview, shortlisting, and final selection.
Also speaking, Prof. Ojukwu advised the new CJN not to do anything that would make Nigerians emotional but to make the principle of equity, fairness, and justice her watchword.
The law Professor also wants the court to devise a means of removing itself from election cases so that leaders would be the true choices of the electorates and not the court.
Another Law professor, Samuel Erugo, SAN, suggested that the Supreme Court should be reformed in such a way that it can review its judgments especially when there is great public outcry.
Another lawyer and member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Folarin Aluko, urged the new CJN to urgently tackle the incidences of conflicting judgments and abuse of interim injunctions.
“There should be a clear practice direction on the management of territorial jurisdiction overlaps. It is suggested for this purpose that the structure and scope of such overlaps be agreed at the All Nigerian Conference of Judges and the Practice Directions should be uniform across all the court systems in the country”, he said.
On her part, Aisha Yesufu, called for the introduction of a mechanism for increased financial transparency, accountability, and public reporting to restore public trust.
She said that disciplinary processes should be: “both prompt and decisive and dispositions or punishment should be calibrated to be proportionate to the seriousness of the misconduct found”.
Justice Kekere-Ekun is expected to take over the leadership of Nigeria’s judiciary on Thursday when the incumbent, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola will proceed on retirement having attained the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.
