Retiring S’Court justice bemoans skewed composition of apex court
..CJN decries lowest number of justices in history of S’Court
BY ANDREW OROLUA
A retiring Supreme Court Justice, Musa Dattijo Muhammad, has raised his voice against the operations at the apex court.
Justice Muhammad, who bowed out of the apex court bench on Friday, October 27, 2023, after 47 years in active judicial service, and attaining 70 years, made the allegation in a valedictory session organised in his honour.
He said that the judiciary, as presently structured, gave so much power to the CJN, who he said usually makes decisions without consulting other justices.
According to Justice Muhammad, “As presently structured, the CJN is Chairman of the NJC, which oversees both the appointment and discipline of judges, he is equally Chair of the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), the National Judicial Institute (NJI), the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) that appoints Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
“In my considered opinion, the oversight functions of these bodies should not rest on an individual alone. A person with absolute powers, it is said, corrupts easily and absolutely.”
Justice Muhammad also alleged that the refusal to fill the vacant slot of South East on the apex court bench was deliberate, blaming it on “absolute powers vested in the office of the CJN.”
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He said that with his retirement, the North Central zone, which he represented, would no longer have a Justice on the Supreme Court bench.
“My lord Hon. Justice Ejembi Eko JSC, who also represented the zone, retired on 23rd of May, 2022. It has been a year and five months now. There has not been any replacement.
“With the passing of my lord, Hon. Justice Chima Centus Nweze, JSC on 29th July 2023, the South East no longer has any presence at the Supreme Court. My lord, Hon. Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta JSV died on 7th March 2021. There has not been any appointment in his stead for the South East.
“As it stands, only four geo-political regions- the South-West, South-South, North-West and North-East are represented in the Supreme Court.
“While the South-South and North-East have two serving justices, the North-West and South-West are fully represented with three each.
“Appropriate steps could have been taken since to fill outstanding vacancies in the apex court. Why have these steps not been timeously taken?
“It is evident that the decision not to fill the vacancies in the court is deliberate. It is all about the absolute powers vested in the office of the CJN and the responsible exercise of same.
Justice Muhammad also lamented the poor funding and welfare of judges, saying that the budgetary allocation for the Judiciary increased from 70 billion in 2015 to 165 billion presently, “Justices and officers welfare and the quality of service the judiciary render have continued to decline.”
He said that it was owing to allegations of corruption and perversion of justice that informed President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to order the invasion of homes and arrest of some judges in 2016.
“Not done, in 2019 the government accosted, arrested and arraigned the incumbent Chief Justice before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged underhand conduct.
“In 2022, a letter signed by all other justices of the Supreme Court, including the current Chief Justice, the aggrieved protested against the shabby treatment meted to them by the head of court and the Chief Registrar.
“In the event, his lordship Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad disengaged ostensibly on grounds of ill-health.
“My lords, distinguished invitees, ladies and gentlemen, it is obvious that the judiciary I am exiting from is far from the one I voluntarily joined and desired to serve and be identified with. The institution has become something else.”
In another development, the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola on Friday decried the lowest number of justices in the history of Supreme Court with heavy work load.
Statutorily, Nigeria Supreme Court ought to have complementary 22 Justices to enable it constitute at least three separate full panels of seven justices at a time.
This statutory number has not been met, Justice Ariwoola said the apex court is having only 10 Justices on its bench to tackle the heavy workload of pending cases.
The CJN however assured that efforts are on top gear to elevate a sizeable Justices to the bench of the Court.
“With Justices Musa Dattijo leaving us today after the retirement of Hon. Justice Adamu Amina Augie a few weeks ago, we are now left with just 10 Justices on the Supreme Court Bench; being the lowest we have ever had in contemporary history of the Court.
“However, I can confidently assure all the litigant public that efforts are in top gear to get on board a sizeable number of Justices to boost our rank and complement the tremendous effort we have been investing in the business of the Court.
“This is not because I have never witnessed or presided over valedictory sessions before; but for the fact that we are honouring a quintessential judicial icon with dazzling qualities and alluring stature who could, in one breath, be classified as a model of excellence that transcends the legal profession.
“My Lord Hon. Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad in whose honour we assemble here today, is an epitome of jurisprudential finesse; an insuperable lion with an irrepressible voice in the temple of justice.
“We are here to identify with an accomplished jurisprudential iconoclast that has offered the best of his intellect to the advancement of the legal profession through his several years of unblemished and incontrovertible adjudications at different levels of Courts in Nigeria.
“His Lordship has, by all standards, made an incisive inroad into the revered history books of the Nigerian judiciary as that gallant and eminent Justice at the Supreme Court bench who inviolably held sway in the discharge of his judicial functions.
“As second-in-command in the hierarchy of the Supreme Court, my Lord, Justice Dattijo, skilfully aided and supported me virtually in every sphere of administration. He is a specimen of hard work, industry, discipline and high moral rectitude.
“He willingly offered every support and encouragement that any leader would always wish to enjoy from a deputy to effectively meander the often stormy coast of court administration.”
