Court to Buhari: accept 33 judges appointed by NJC for FCT

 Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

A FEDERAL High Court in Abuja has granted permission for the commencement of a suit to compel President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint the 33 lawyers nominated by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for appointment as judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Justice Inyang Ekwo granted the leave on Wednesday while ruling on an ex parte application filed by a lawyer, Oladimeji Felix Ekengba.

The judge said he was persuaded to grant the applicant’s request because he provided sufficient materials to warrant the granting of the relief sought.

He said: “The applicant is granted leave of this court to apply for a writ of mandamus compelling the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces to perform his official duty as contained in Section 256(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by appointing the 33 persons recommended to him for appointment into the office of judges of the High Court of the FCT, Abuja, by the NJC.”

Justice Ekwo noted that the leave granted the applicant would enable him to initiate the writ of summons, and that it did not amount to granting the order of mandamus itself.

He said: “That granting leave is a preliminary exercise of discretion in application of this nature and a prelude to taking a requisite step in the cause of the applicant.”

Ekengba had stated, in an affidavit supporting his motion, that President Buhari was wrong not to have appointed the 33 persons recommended to him by the NJC.

He added: “After painstaking, thorough screening/interview in total compliance with the extant laws and rules for appointment of judges” by the NJC, President Buhari ought to have appointed the 33 in accordance with Section 256 (2) of the Constitution without recourse to the National Assembly or tamper with the list.

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Ekengba insisted that President Buhari lacked the discretion to refuse to carry out his constitutional duties, stressing that the word “shall” used in the provision of the law, made it compulsory for the President to act in accordance with the recommendation of the NJC.

The NJC had, at its meeting on April 22 and 23, 2020, announced the nomination of 33 lawyers to President Buhari for appointment as judges of the High Court of the FCT.

Shortly after the nomination, a group of lawyers, under the aegis of Open Bar Initiative, petitioned President Buhari, claiming that 17 of the 33 NJC’s nominees are not only  “unqualified”, but only made the list because of their “connection” or “family affiliation” with top officials of the nation’s Judiciary.

The petition, dated May 6, 2020, signed by Silas Onu and Chidi Odinkalu, was also sent to Senate President Ahmed Lawan and House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.

Based on the controversy generated over the nomination, President Buhari eventually approved the appointment of 11 of the 33 nominees, a decision Ekengba faulted and sought to be reversed in his planned suit.