Rumble In The Supreme Court: CJ Tanko Mohammed Bows Out, Ariwoola In

• Did CJ Jump Or Was He Pushed?

The suddenness of the departure of Chief Justice Tanko Muhammed as the head of the judicial branch of the Nigerian government has sent tongues wagging as to the real reason for the abrupt retirement. There are as usual several conspiracy theories as to whether he left willingly or whether he was forced to go, although he cited health reasons in his letter.

The last one week has seen so much news and activities in and around the Supreme Court of Nigeria, an institution which usually runs quietly, so much so that even when anything is happening, no one makes any noise from there. It is usually its decisions as the apex court that make noise for it, not the persons that make up the top judicial institution.

But last week, 14 justices of the Supreme Court, including the Number 2 Justice, sent the Chief Justice a letter considered unusual by observers, because it had nothing to do with any judicial decision but it raised as much noise as any major pronouncement. The letter had to do with the Justices’ welfare and it was seen in some quarters as direct a indictment of how the CJN was running the ship.

In the leaked letter, the Justices accused the CJN of refusing to address the issues despite drawing his attention to them earlier.

They complained of a lack of legal research assistants, despite the magnitude of cases being adjudicated.

In the letter titled, “The state of affairs in the Supreme Court of Nigeria and demand by Justices of the court”, the Justices said that acting on behalf of the entire Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, they had carefully reviewed the state of affairs in Court and unanimously resolved to write formally and draw the attention of the CJN to their demands, telling him to act before it is too late.

Their demands included Justices accommodation, vehicles, electricity tariff, supply of diesel, internet services to residences and chambers, epileptic electricity supply to the Court, training, healthcare, failure of the CJN to carry the Justices along in managing the affairs of the Court, the deteriorating condition of services generally and the state of the litigations department. On erratic electricity supply, the justices said they have been confined to work between the “hours of 8am and 4pm daily, for lack of diesel” after they were notified of the development by the Supreme Court’s Chief Registrar.

They asked the CJN to regard their letter as a wakeup call take full responsibility as their leader, urging him not to concession his responsibility to people who had no responsibility or stake in preserving and defending the dignity of the Institution.

The CJN was quick to respond and he showed some obvious displeasure as to the public manner his colleagues voiced their complaints, noting that “Judges in all climes are to be seen and not heard”.

Responding to this through Ahuraka Yusuf Isah, his Senior Special Assistant (on Media), the CJN allayed fears of the general public and also gave assurances that “there’s no hostility or adverse feelings amongst the Justices of the Supreme Court, as everyone is going about his normal duty.”

He said the Supreme Court does not exist outside its environment; it is also affected by the economic and socio-political climate prevailing in the country, basically blaming the demands on budgetary provisions.

When a budget is made”, he explained, “it contains two sides, that’s the recurrent and the capital, yet all the two are broken down into items. The Federal Government releases the budget based on the budget components. And it’s an offence to spend the money meant for one item for another”.

He also noted that the high cost of electricity tariff and diesel are national problem, while also saying that the amendment of court rules is on the process, and it has to be critically reviewed to avoid conflict with the constitution and other extant laws.

There were several comments from many quarters on how the dirty linen of the most respected court in the land has been washed, aired and ironed in public so much so that ‘non-learned’ persons are now the ones suggesting how members of the ‘learned’ profession should behave.

By Monday morning, the trending news was that the CJN was retiring due to health reasons. Was he a casualty of the rumble in the Supreme Court? Did the heat from his colleagues become too much or was there pressure from somewhere else?

He was due to retire on attaining the age of 70 next year, although the National Assembly last year started considering a bill that seeks to amend the 1999 Constitution to extend the retirement age of Supreme Court justices from 70 years to 75 years and those in the High Court from 65 years to 70 years. According to the sponsor of the bill, Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, Mr. Onofiok Luke, this will protect judicial officers from pressure, and promote experience and quality in justice delivery in Nigeria. But nothing has come of this bill yet.

It is difficult to list the legacy of Tanko Muhammed’s reign as CJN but no doubt history will report on his tenure one way or another. Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad who was born on 31^st December 1953, served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria since 2005 and became Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Number 5 citizen of the country in protocol precedence, in 2019, replacing Justice Walter Onnoghen.

The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, responded swiftly to the CJN’s departure with its President thanking the out-going Chief Justice for the cordial working relationship between the bar and the bench during his tenure and wished him a quick recovery and well-deserved peaceful retirement.

NBA President Olumide Akpata,  said that, “It is, however, impossible to consider His Lordship’s retirement in isolation of the recent unprecedented developments at the Supreme Court where 14 justices of the court censured the out-gone Chief Justice of Nigeria over His Lordship’s handling of their welfare and related issues”, which seemed to lend credence to the suggestion that the out-gone CJN was a casualty of the rumble.

Akpata then called on the incoming acting Chief Justice of Nigeria and most senior member of the bench, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, to make judicial reform and the restoration of public confidence in the judiciary his first task upon assuming office.

The NBA president pledged the readiness of the Bar to work together with Justice Ariwoola in cleansing “the Augean stable and addressing the ills that have continued to plague not just the judiciary but the entire legal profession”.

Later in the day, Justice Ariwoola took the oath of office as the acting CJN at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, in the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The acknowledgement of the CJN’s retirement was not the only communication between the NBA President and the CJN made public on Monday.

The NBA also wrote to protest what it called the exclusion of lawyers in private practice from the provisional shortlist of candidates for appointment to the Supreme Court.

Mr. Akpata said NBA had been optimistic that the CJN’s invitation for possible appointment of lawyers was an indication that Legal practitioners in private practice who are eminently qualified, and who responded to the request for expressions of interest would be considered for appointment to the Supreme Court.

The NBA expressed dismay that all the shortlisted candidates are Justices of the Court of Appeal and that none of the legal practitioners in private practice who expressed interest and whose names and enviable credentials were sent to your Lordship for consideration was included in the provisional shortlist of candidates for appointment to the Court.

According to Akpata, if indeed there was no intention to consider legal practitioners in private practice for such appointment, “We query the need for the invitation to the NBA to nominate candidates, inclusive of legal practitioners in private practice. If, however, the candidates nominated were found unsuitable or wanting in any material particular, we would appreciate some indication as to the criteria applied as required by Rule 3(8) of the Appointment Guidelines, so that we can ensure that more suitable candidates are put forward by the NBA next time that appointments are to be made”.

From all indications, the issues raised by the NBA would now be in the plate of the new acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ariwoola, who was born on August 22, 1954.

He studied law at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile Ife and bagged his bachelor of laws degree with honours in July, 1980. In July 1981, he was called to the Nigerian bar.

Justice Ariwoola was first appointed a Judge of Superior Court of record in Oyo State in 1992 from private legal practice. Before his elevation to the Supreme Court, he served as Justice of Court of Appeal in Kaduna, Enugu and Lagos Divisions. He was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court in 2011. He was a Justice of the Court of Appeal between 2005 and 2011 after having been elevated from the State High Court of Oyo State.

His appointment would need to be confirmed by the Senate for him to become the substantive Chief Justice of the Federation.