By Lanre Adewole
All things being equal, Nigeria is expected to have a new Chief Justice in August this year, when the incumbent, Kayode Ariwoola, is expected to retire at the current constitutional threshold of 70 years. Between now and then, the apostles of retirement age extension for justices of the Supreme Court are not likely to make any serious dent on the current arrangement, meaning that it is close to certainty that Ariwoola will leave on August 22 this year and the current most senior Justice of the apex court, after him, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, from Lagos State, is expected to take over the running of the arm of government.
She is expected to run the show till May 7, 2028, meaning that she would be in charge of resolving disputations arising from the 2027 general election and other outlier governorship elections which normally terminate at the apex court. Considering the outsize role the judiciary has been playing in election disputes and the many controversies that have trailed a lot of judicial pronouncements, all eyes are certainly going to be on the change of baton and the history-making second female CJN in the history of Nigeria’s judiciary.
Kano, Nasarawa, Plateau, Zamfara gov appeals
Considering that election cases are sui generis and can be statue-barred, a rash of decisions from the Supreme Court on governorship disputations are expected between January and February, when all cases related to the 2023 election are to be concluded according to extant laws governing the process in Nigeria.
Nerves are already frayed over the controversial pronouncements by lower courts, especially the Court of Appeal, with electorate’s mandates seen as being taken away in the court rooms. All eyes are now on the apex court, to restore the alleged tampering with the integrity of the judicial process in election adjudication. States on the edge include Kano, Plateau, Nasarawa, Zamfara, Ogun, Kaduna, among others. While Kaduna governor, Uba Sani, soundly won a unanimous victory at the Court of Appeal, following a majority decision at the tribunal, the sudden inclusion of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) from the South West in the team of his opponent, solely for the Supreme Court resolution, is raising temperature in political and judicial circles. The Silk is widely seen as a close confidant of the incumbent CJN and his last-minute inclusion in the final appeal process is being interpreted as leveraging on his closeness to power to manipulate the process, though there isn’t any verifiable development to suggest the process is being compromised.
Again, each governorship appeal is handled by five justices of the apex court, to be chosen by the CJN. There isn’t also any verifiable information to suggest the said SAN is close to other justices of the apex court and his alleged influence in the system is said to be rupturing the hitherto chummy relational between the CJN and his colleagues.
New Chief Registrar for apex court?
Since the last quarter of last year, demands had spiked for the exit of the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Hajo Sarki Bello, who is from Paiko, Paikoro Local Government Area of Niger State, though the battle to rid the lawyer of the topmost administrative position in the apex court has been largely fought within the system, so far. Bello assumed the position on August 9, 2021 and since it isn’t tenured like others within the system, the holder of the office is always at the pleasure of the CJN. Fortunately for Hajo, Ariwoola is reportedly in support of her staying on, though many justices of the apex court aren’t for her continued stay. A top source disclosed to The Jury that the stalemate over her fate is due to the reluctance of the authorities to make her a chief magistrate, because of performance issue. Following the disgraceful departure of the immediate CJN, Tanko Muhammad, whose tenure ran into headwind with his colleagues, with Hajo serving as his clearing house (CR), many stakeholders had expected her to leave with the terminated CJN, but she miraculously survived the Tanko scandal, with Ariwoola preserving her in the same office. Now, the daggers are again out for her, but she has survived so far and likely to, till the end of Ariwoola’s tenure, serving two Chief Justices. Kekere-Ekun is largely expected to debut in August with a new Chief Registrar. For now, the silent battle to “redeploy” Hajo is on.
Reforms
At the new legal year, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, said the Bola Tinubu administration is ready to support the reform agenda of the Ariwoola leadership and waiting on the judiciary to initiate the move, in what could be read as a sign of good faith on the part of the executive arm. Following the October 2023 outburst of now-retired Justice Dattijo Muhammad, then-the incumbent’s deputy, many stakeholders have been calling for a holistic reform of the system, though it doesn’t appear that the outgoing Chief Justice would be announcing any soon. Despite coming into office on the heels of Tanko’s disastrous outing as the CJN, Ariwoola has shocked many insiders by his lack of definable agenda for the system and it is doubtful if he would be announcing any again, just seven months to the end of his tenure.
But a lack of clear reform agenda would not diminish his leadership’s focus. To the credit of the Ariwoola era, the Supreme Court will, for the first time ever, be fulfilling the constitutional mandate on the full complement of the Bench, with 11 justices set to join the current 10, to meet the 21-Justice threshold. It must, however, be noted that the imminent exit of Ariwoola will bring the number down to 20, and Helen Ogunwumiju’s retirement in 2026 will further dip the figure. Hopefully, Kekere-Ekun, who currently chairs the appointment committee of the NJC as the vice chairman and presumed to know the process well, will keep faith with the Ariwoola threshold agenda.
Ariwoola’s exit may, however, prove a bit challenging for Kekere-Ekun’s leadership because the slot would have to remain in the South-West and expected to go to Osun State and most likely, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the Court of Appeal, but South-West retaining it would sustain the current four slots for the zone in the court. Apart from the CJN, Kekere-Ekun and Ogunwumiju currently represent the South West, with Justice Adewale Abiru also on his way.
There is likely to be contentions if South-West tries to retain the fourth slot after Ariwoola’s exit, though it could be argued that the CJN seat is national and not to be listed in the geopolitical consideration in slot allotment.
The financial storm that consumed Tanko also seemed to have petered out in the apex court, suggesting that Ariwoola has met the demands of his colleagues, especially on better work conditions, medicals, etc. It would appear that the main issue fraying the apex court is the Hajo saga.
Reducing CJN’s power
Dattijo’s claim that the powers conferred on the office of the Chief Justice are enormous, subject to abuse and should be reviewed, has captured the imagination of the pro-reform in the system, especially senior lawyers like a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olisa Agbakoba SAN, who described the Supreme Court under Ariwoola as the worst in his 40 years of practising law, right in the presence of President Tinubu and Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. Before the Dattijo bubble, the ninth National Assembly under Ahmad Lawan, during a constitution amendment exercise, had attempted cutting the CJN off the chairmanship of some agencies of the judiciary like the National Judicial Council, the umbrella body for the arm of government. Senior lawyers who served as consultants to the National Assembly joint committee on constitution amendment had recommended that CJN should stop chairing the council, to allow for some independence and fresh breath.
Those currently agitating for the implementation have now moved an inch further, insisting that no judicial officer, regardless of office, or whether serving or retired, should be allowed to boss the council again. Their contention is that the council would be more effective having an executive secretary who will have the power to query spending by heads of court, who currently report to no one, once their allocations are released.
The argument is being extended to include the exclusion of Chief Judges as the overseers of spending in their courts, paving the way for the Chief Registrars, the original chief financial officers, to perform their statutory functions and be properly liable when funds are misapplied.
It is being further argued that many heads of court only got to the position by virtue of career progression with zero experience in human resource and fund management and the current arrangement allows them, to administer what they have not been prepared for, leading to a lot of discontent in the system.
Currently at the FCT High Court, there are appointed Chief Magistrates without official vehicles, contrary to what the guidelines prescribe. The incumbent Chief Judge of the court, Hussein Baba-Yusuf, alluded to the fund problem during the new legal year, despite continued flow of allocation from the NJC.
In a scandalous twist of events, Chief Magistrates in the FCT now rotate sitting, with some allocated the morning shift and others the afternoon shift, due to shortage of court rooms.
Another SAN award before August?
A story gradually getting a life of its own is the alleged move by the outgoing administration to rush through another round of Silk Award. Though still being discussed in low tones, the move, if given vent, is expected to ravage the judiciary like a plague, considering that outgoing incumbents who won’t be around for another legal year to swear in new Silk, usually leave the appointment to their successors. The last CJN who attempted it due to his feud with his eventual successor was stopped by the Attorney-General of that era. Stakeholders are waiting with bated breath to see if the Ariwoola leadership would conclude the SAN award for 2024, even when the incumbent won’t be around to swear the beneficiaries in. The move is likely to generate a crisis that may last the Judiciary till the end of the New Year.
