Tag: Justice Mahmud Mohammed

THE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, plans to ensure an independent and efficient judiciary is in place when he lives office.

He said having been part of the judicial system for a decade, he understood its workings and challenges. He is willing to ensure that a functional judiciary, which met the people’s needs, was in place.

Justice Mohammed said with the support of good minds in the National Judicial Council (NJC), he would build on the structure left by his predecessor in achieving his objectives.

He spoke in Abuja at a dinner in his honour by the former President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Umaru Abdullahi.

The CJN recalled his past working relationship with Justice Abudullahi, whom he described as his mentor.

He described him as a man of integrity guided by conscience.

“Throughout our working years, particularly during the military era, he was an inspiration to me. I learnt a lot from him. His integrity cannot be questioned. During the military era, when all the courts were subjected to a lot of pressure; sometimes, Justice Abdullahi would look an official in the face and say: ‘Look, you cannot interfere with our judicial work, keep off.’ That is the kind of person he is.

“That was how I learnt to be upright in the discharge of my responsibilities as a judicial officer. I’ve stayed a long time in the system. I will build on the structure left by my predecessor to ensure the smooth running of the judiciary.”

A former schoolmate of the CJN, Justice John Fabiyi of the Supreme Court and Justice Abdullahi expressed confidence in the CJN’s ability to deliver on his promises.

Justice Fabiyi said: “I have known him since 1967 at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He is a very humble person, he is easy-going. He is very articulate and firm in his decisions. He has the support of the justices at the Supreme Court. Next year appears a little frightening, but by the grace of God, we shall overcome.”

Justice Abdullahi said although his appointment as the CJN was a thing of joy, it came with huge responsibilities, which required wisdom and God’s guidance.

 

•Senate confirms Mohammed as CJN

The Senate confirmed yesterday the nomination of Justice Mahmud Mohammed as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

The confirmation was in line with Section 231(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

Before Mohammed was asked to “take a bow and go” as the CJN-designate, the senators drilled him in a question and answer session.

He described prosecutors as a major spoke in the wheel of judicial system.

Mohammed said contrary to insinuations, nothing in the constitution stopped President Goodluck Jonathan from appointing the CJN from any body of legal practitioners.

The CJN-designate opposed the creation of special courts to deal with special cases like corruption.

He noted that with the right frame of mind and the will to prosecute, no corruption case would last more than one week.

He insisted that the problem was not with the courts but with the personnel in the courts.

Said he: “Honestly, I do not support the creation of special courts specifically to deal with cases like corruption and so on. It is human beings who are managing the courts. It is not the court itself. No matter who you put there, if his integrity is not in good shape, you will see that the matters will not move.

“It does not matter the name of the court, but the actual personnel in the court. This is why as far as I am concerned, all these corruption cases could be dealt with by courts, which are already in place.

“It depends on the will to have the cases heard expeditiously. As a magistrate, the backlog of cases I had, it is not because of the court, but the prosecutors because I was a prosecutor for many years.

“I know what it means to prosecute a case of corruption. It cannot even take a week. The problem with some of these corruption cases is some documentary evidence. You don’t need to keep coming to court.

“What is important is to prove your case. So if the court is there, the prosecutor is there and the accused is there, there is no reason why such cases will last for more than two or three months.

“That is the position and many suspects that are still languishing is because of the lack of will to prosecute and not because of the courts.”

On establishment of constitutional courts, Mohammed said: “Regarding constitutional courts, honestly, it is the same situation.

“You can call it Constitutional Court, Supreme Court or Court of Appeal. What is important is the interpretation of the law.

“What does the law say of the given facts? Any justice or any officer you have on the bench, provided he is qualified, could make that interpretation without calling it a Constitutional Court, or a Supreme Court or a Court of Appeal.

“The practice in the French-speaking countries where most of the constitutional courts are functioning is because of the background from their own legal training.

“But in Nigeria, as far as I am concerned, honestly, whether it is Constitutional Court, whether it is Supreme Court, let the cases be decided in good time.

“In this respect, honestly the Supreme Court, as far as I am concerned, has been discharging this responsibility effectively, particularly having regard to the load heaped upon us by the constitution amendment asking that the governorship election petition should not terminate at the Court of Appeal.

“Well, we accepted it with full arms and we are discharging the responsibility and there has been no instance of any complaint on the discharge of that responsibility by the Supreme Court because not a case is allowed to lapse throughout this dispensation.

“So, as far as the Supreme Court is concerned, whether you call it Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court, it is discharging that responsibility and quite effectively too.”

On conflicting judgments, he said: “Honestly, these conflicting judgments are most in political cases, election tribunals and where there is a lot of interest.

“Sometimes, we ourselves are not helping matters. If I say we, I mean we lawyers.

“The problem is with us. We have a case but we don’t want it to finish quickly. We maintain it on the court list when the purpose of having it is to prosecute it successfully. If we know that we don’t have a good case we don’t tell our clients the truth.

“The conflicting judgments coming from the tribunals and the Court of Appeal is as a result of we lawyers who in fact insist that the rule of review prevail and sometimes some of our judges also make mistakes. We are not infallible because we could make mistakes.

“In fact of recent, the President of the Court of Appeal has put measures in place to deal with some of these conflicting judgments.

“Some of these appeals terminate at the Court of Appeal, they don’t come to the Supreme Court to give the Supreme Court the opportunity to correct the situation.”

On agitation for the separation of the office of the Attorney-General and the Minister of Justice, he said: “Regarding the office of the Attorney- General and Minister of Justice, whether it should be split or it should be allowed to remain as it is, honestly I have my own view because I was also an attorney-general.

“In fact, I served two opposing governments, but what it requires is honesty in the discharge of responsibilities regarding the role and how the machinery of government is run.

“The function of the attorney-general is not a political office, but it is an office that deals with a lot of responsibilities regarding the administration of justice generally.

“Now the office of the Minister of Justice is purely political. You see, sometimes, political decisions have to be taken. It may not necessarily be in accordance with the law.

“That is what it is and we recognise that. To me I think there is the need honestly, to separate the two offices so as to allow each to function in accordance with the dispensation of justice because to allow one person to exercise both powers will result in a lot of complaints.”

On the appointment of the CJN, he said: “Now the issue of whether seniority should be adhered to in appointing the Chief Justice of Nigeria; as far as the constitution is concerned, there is nothing preventing the President of the country to appoint the Chief Justice of Nigeria from anywhere in the country, from any group of legal practitioners, that is what is in the constitution.

“So, there is nothing to worry about that the appointment of CJN is always based on seniority.

“It is so because of the tradition that we inherited and also because seniority is part and parcel of the legal profession.”