The recent stirring in the Supreme Court takes precedence for this column above the disgraceful conduct of the executive and the legislative arms of government, in the past week. With utmost respect, I refer to the recent appointment of my Lord, Justice Mahmud Mohammed as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, and the elevation of my Lord, Justice Chima Centus Nweze, of the Court of Appeal, to the Supreme Court. While I had looked forward to celebrate the cerebral acuity and professorial fecundity of Nweze, JSC, the epochal appointment of our home groomed Chief Justice of Nigeria, shows that the legal profession in Nigeria, has come of age.
Justice Mahmud Mohammed CJN
So, I join other Nigerians to celebrate the first Chief Justice that is reportedly trained in Nigeria up to the Nigeria Law School, as different from his predecessors who were first trained in the Inns of the English Bar. It is my earnest hope that this development will manifest in a reformist judiciary, which will pursue a more philosophical blend of the best of the inherited English legal system with the best of our traditional and cultural precepts, to drive and promote a more compassionate social justice system, and less of anarchical technicalities, for the progress of our dear country. In my humble view, this will require a radical reformation of our adversarial system of justice, the imputation of mediatory role by Judges during trials, and less dependence on rigorous technicalities, particularly with respect to the enforcement of fundamental human rights.
I will therefore most humbly re-submit my humble exaltations, under this column in 2012, when my Lord, retired Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, was appointed the Chief Justice of Nigeria, to wit: “In my humble view, I will advise her (his) Lordship to examine the judicial impact made by the world renowned Jurist, and former Chief Justice of India, Justice P. N. Bhagwati and his ageless pronouncements and revolution in India with regards to public interest litigation. If she (he) wants to be positively remembered, then she (he) has to seek out the guiding principles of the radical sides of such eminent Supreme Court Justices like Chukwudifu Oputa, Kayode Esho, Muhammed Uwais, Nnaemeka-Agu, and a few older colleagues and make a feast of them”.
Justice Chima Centus Nweze JSC
The recent elevation of Justice Chima Centus Nweze to the Supreme Court is salutary, for anyone who has followed his trajectory. His Lordship’s profile is an intimidating combination of sagacious intellectualism and judicial activism. Over the years, my Law Lord has adroitly combined his judicial work, as a brilliant Judge, with outstanding academic excellence, which ranks him among very distinguished legal scholars and university Professors.
From 1995 to 2007, Justice Nweze served as a Judge of the High Court of Justice, Enugu state, and during that period, he was from January to April, 1999, a member of the Ondo state local government election petition tribunal; and from April to June 1999, he served as the Chairman Ogun state governorship and legislative houses election petition tribunal. He also served as the Administrative Judge, Nsukka Judicial Division, from 2001 to 2003. Twelve years after he became a Judge, Justice Nweze was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2007, and was sworn in 2008. From the Court of Appeal, My Lord has now been elevated to the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
In academics, Justice Nweze has manifested great intellectual prowess. With a Masters Degree, and a Doctor of Philosophy, in Law, from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Justice Nweze’s academic exploits ranks among putative University Professors. While serving as a Judge, Justice Nweze was at a time a distinguished scholar (pro bono) at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology. He was also a visiting Associate Professor of Law, Ebonyi State University, a visiting Human Rights Scholar, Faculty of Law and Convener/Coordinator, International Human Rights Law Program, University of Nigeria. No doubt, Dr. Nweze, the learned Justice of the Supreme Court, has a ringing reputation as a legal scholar, and distinguished book reviewer.
Before now, Justice Nweze showed his uncanny legal profundity in his years at the Court of Appeal. A few of his prodigious judicial pronouncements will show this other side of this legal luminary. For instance, in Udotim and Ors vs Idiong and Ors (2013) LPELR 22132 (CA) 13-14, F-D, Justice Nweze JCA (as he then was) on the meaning and nature of discretion, profoundly held: “Discretion, according to settled authorities, is not an indulgence of a judicial whim, it is the exercise of judicial judgment based on facts and guided by the law of equitable decisions, UBA Ltd v Staliau GMBH and Co. K. G. (1989) LPELR-3400(SC). It is the court’s epistemological tool for winnowing solid truth from windy falsehood; for dichotomizing between shadow and substance and distilling equity from colourable glosses and pretences. By its very character, judicial discretion does not brook any capricious exercise of power according to private fancies and affections. We find support for this opinion in Rook’s case (1598) 5 Co. Rep. 996, cited in Ayantuyi v Governor of Ondo (2005) 14 WRN 67, 91.”
From the foregoing it is safe to conclude that the recent elevation of Justice Nweze to the supreme sanctuary of our national judiciary, otherwise known as the Supreme Court, is a plus to the apex court and the entire legal community. Also, the new CJN no doubt assumes the leadership of the apex court, at a very difficult time in the life of our country, considering the unscrupulous context for power, between contestants for the executive and legislature positions, in the run down, to the 2015 general elections. My prayer is that the heavenly Lord, will guide my Law Lords, in their onerous task, as impartial arbiters.
