For the first time in its history, the Supreme Court will soon have the full complement of 21 justices, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, promised yesterday.
He expressed his determination to break the jinx as one of his legacies.
The number of Supreme Court Justices dropped to 10 from 13 with the retirement of Justice Amina Augie, the death of Justice Chima Nweze, and the retirement of Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad.
Last two weeks, the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) nominated 11 justices and 11 reserves from the Court of Appeal for elevation to the Supreme Court, subject National Judicial Council (NJC) and Senate clearance.
Justice Ariwoola, who spoke in Abuja at a special court session to mark the Supreme Court’s 2023/2024 legal year and the swearing-in of 58 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), said he had been working to fill the vacancies.
He and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), called for a reduction in the number of cases that get to the Supreme Court to reduce the workload.
Chief Justice Ariwoola said the apex court delivered 251 judgments during the 2022/2023 legal year, noting that Nigerians are too litigious.
He said: “I have made it clear on different occasions that it is not every dispute that must find its way to the court; it is not every matter that must come up to the Supreme Court on appeal.
“Our laws have to be amended to make most appeals end at the Court of Appeal, which is competent, dexterous and well-equipped with the right materials and manpower to adjudicate effectively and resourcefully.”
On the need to appoint more justices, the CJN said: “Efforts were made by my predecessor to increase the number, but that was unsuccessful before he left office.
“However, the cheery news is that as soon as I assumed office on the 27th of June, 2022, I immediately got down to work on this urgent and immediate need in particular.
“Though we have not gotten them on board yet, I can convincingly assure the public that within a very short while, the Supreme Court of Nigeria will, for the very first time in its history, get the constitutionally prescribed full complement of 21 Justices.
“That is one of the legacies I have been working assiduously to leave behind as it now seems that the court has been somewhat ‘jinxed’ from meeting its constitutional requirement since that piece of legislation was enacted several years ago.”
Chief Justice Ariwoola, while acknowledging the need for public trust in the Judiciary, urged judges to be guided by law rather than the “loud voices of the mob” in reaching decisions.
He added: “The Judiciary, as it is today, is more deserving of public trust and confidence than ever before.
“We are poised to reposition it for effective justice delivery to make our beloved country a destination of note in the observance of the rule of law and tenets of constitutionalism.
“The law remains the law, no matter whose interest is involved. In all we do, as interpreters of the law, we should endeavour to sever the strings of emotion from logic and assumption from fact.
“We should never be overwhelmed by the actions or loud voices of the mob or crowd and now begin to confuse law with sentiment or something else in deciding our cases
“Judges owe the society a great duty of always deciding cases without fear or favour, affection or ill will, friend or foe.
“I wish to honestly assure all judicial officers that if you are discharging your functions as an upright judicial officer by genuinely following the norms, then you have no cause to be afraid or feel intimidated by the often frivolous complaints or vitriolic attacks made by persons having vested interest.”
Stressing the importance of judicial independence in a democracy, he added: “We actually expected the independence of the judiciary to be given adequate statutory protection, not just at the Federal level alone but equally at the state level so that they could be seen to be truly and genuinely independent in all ramifications.
“The rule of law, with all its well-understood facets, has been highly questionable since the advent of democratic governance in 1999.
“It is noteworthy that reputation can take a long time to establish but can be dissolved and completely destroyed in an instant, sometimes, inadvertently, though.
“The rule of law and the holistic independence of the judiciary should always be cherished by all.”
On the performance of the Supreme Court in the last legal year, the CJN said 1,271 cases, comprising motions and appeals, were filed between September 12, 2022 and July 11, 2023.
Of the number, 388 were political, 215 were criminal and 464 were civil appeals.
Chief Justice Ariwoola said the court considered 49 criminal, 153 civil and two political motions.
He said the Supreme Court delivered 251 judgments between September 30, 2022 and July 11, among them 125 political, 81 civil and 45 criminal appeals.
“Within the period under review (precisely 10 months’ duration), a total number of 91 rulings were delivered by the honourable court,” he said.
The CJN urged the new SANs to display “enormous integrity, self-discipline and high standard of advocacy as custodians of justice.”
AGF: reduce cases that go on appeal
The AGF said the huge volume of cases before the Supreme Court makes it necessary to reduce cases that go before the apex court.
He said: “The foregoing is no doubt a very concerning situation that must be holistically addressed if we are to get the best of our Supreme Court and indeed their lordships.
“We must begin to develop innovative solutions towards enhancing the working capacity of the Supreme Court, cutting down on the number of appeals that gets to this honourable court, implementing critical judicial reforms, as well a adopting alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.”
Fagbemi urged the NJC to fast-track the ongoing process of appointing more Justices.
He said: “I am aware that the process of filling the vacancies for the Justices of the Supreme Court has begun.
“I would, however, like to use this opportunity to urge the leadership of the NJC to fast-track the process of achieving a full complement of the Supreme Court and to also concurrently put in place the process of filling the consequential vacancies that will be occasioned at the Court of Appeal to avoid undue delay and minimise disruptions at that level.
“The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has severally expressed readiness to implement judicial reforms with the cooperation of the judiciary.
“We, therefore, earnestly await the Judiciary to set the ball rolling to enable the other arms to play their part in this critical aspect of nation-building.”
Fagbemi cautioned lawyers against commenting on pending cases.
He said: “It is fast becoming a sad norm and regrettably so for legal practitioners to appear at television or radio stations discussing pending matters.
“We have also seen lawyers, after court sitting, discussing what transpired in the proceedings. You must resist the urge to engage in such practice.
“You must also reject the temptation by media houses inviting you to analyse or discuss pending matters.
“The doctrine of sub-judice enjoins lawyers and even members of the public to refrain from commenting and discussing cases. You should not be seen breaching this doctrine.”
The AGF drew the attention of the new SANs to the provision of Paragraph 26(4) of the 2022 Guidelines for the Conferment of the Rank of SAN and All Matters Pertaining to the Rank, which prohibits the restoration of withheld SAN rank.
“One of the highlights of the new Guidelines is that, unlike the 2018 Guidelines which contains provisions for discipline of erring holders of the rank and for the restoration of the rank after three years of withdrawal upon the fulfilment of certain conditions, the 2022 Guidelines makes no provision for the restoration of the rank after withdrawal.
“In other words, once the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph 26(4) of the Guidelines, withdraws the rank from any holder who may have breached the provisions in sub-paragraph (a)-(h), the withdrawal is final and the rank cannot be restored afterwards.
“It, therefore, behoves on any SAN to strive to conduct himself in utmost professional standards and to avoid running foul of the Rules of Professional Misconduct for Legal Practitioners,” Fagbemi advised.
