By Worgu Boms
My Personal Musing on An Aspect of the Agbakoba SAN, Presentation on the occasion of the Birth Day Boy Ceremony.
The Law has been there and it is largely the same in all the other Jurisdictions that I have managed to check: You do not need to be a Judge first, before you can be appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court or of the Court of Appeal; or even the Chief Justice or the Chief Judge of a state. No. You do not need to.
Even as a High Court Judge, you need not be at the Court of Appeal before you can be appointed to the Supreme Court. NO.
It is enough if you, as a lawyer, meet the specified year of call.
Under this same Law, Chukwudifu Oputa became a Supreme Court Justice, Augustine Nnamani too, as did Taslim Elias who even became CJN from the Classroom.
Under that same Law in Singapore, Mr. How became CJ of Singapore, straight from the Banking Hall as a Bank Guru, and turned it into one of the best Judiciaries in the world. (Mr. How was a Cambridge trained Lawyer, with a 1st Class, but went into Banking.)
Under that same Law, the current Chief Justice of the United States, John Glover Roberts, became a Chief Justice.
Although he sat in US Circuits, still, for 14 years, or so, he was an active Court lawyer and indeed, argued over 30 Appeals before the US Supreme Court whose Chief Justice he was later to became. It is the same Law we find in our country’s Constitution TODAY.
But in a swift departure, appointments to the Supreme Court, even, to the Court of Appeal, in practice, is now, like in the Civil Service, by promotion: from the Magistracy ( in many cases) to the High Court; from there to the Court of Appeal; and thence to the Supreme Court.
It is now strictly for Judges! If you must be appointed to the Supreme Court, or even to the Court of Appeal, you must first have been a Judge! This, to the extent that it effectively, automatically cuts off every other persons qualified, is in breach of the letters and especially, the spirit of the Constitutional provision on the matter.
What is the Solution? Agbakoba SAN, says we need another Law, a Legislation, “to legislate that…..”
I confess I did not quite get him on what his proposed new Law should read, but the intent of the Legislation, according to him, is to make it possible for us to have lawyers from the Bar appointed straight to the Appellate Courts, including the Supreme Court.
But:
Is that not possible under the present Constitutional arrangement? How was it possible during the period I just described with the Elias and the Nnamanis without the aid of another supplementary Law?
The new Law proposed by Agbakoba on a matter the Constitution has already made specific provision for, as to qualifications for appointment. Is it going to modify the Constitution?
Exactly how is that jurisprudentially, constitutionally possible?
If we had the right mindset and honesty, our corpus Juris, are well and fine on this matter of appointment of Judges.
I have never agreed that inadequacy of our Laws, or Law generally, is our problem.
It is not!
We are the problem.
” We Are Where We Are Because of Whom We Are”.
‘ The fault, Dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in…’
My name’s WorguBoms.
Worgu Boms is a former Attorney General of Rivers State.
