- Last Updated on 14 May 2015
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The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, on Thursday declared that the judiciary would no longer condone judges who are not fit for the job.
As a result, the appointment of judges in Nigeria would no longer be based on interference and pressure from external forces.
He said this had become important to strengthen the judicial system of the country. Moreover, the new guidelines by the National Judicial Council on appointment of judicial officers now provides for stringent qualifications.
Speaking at the swearing-in of the new Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Amiru Sanusi, at the Supreme Court complex in Abuja, Mohammed, said the current guidelines ensures the emergence of only the best legal minds with high moral standards to serve as judges in our revered temples of justice.
Mohammed added that Sanusi scaled the hurdles set by the 2014 Revised National Judicial Council Guidelines and Procedural Rules of Appointment of Judicial Officers of all Superior Courts of Record in Nigeria.
He said the guidelines no longer provided opportunities for having to know someone somewhere to get appointed as a justice.
He said: “The newly enacted guidelines bring the judiciary into an era where the eligibility of a candidate for appointment to the bench will no longer be based on nepotism, familial or fraternal connections.
“The guidelines provide a mechanism which would ensure that only fit and proper persons and the most intellectually astute, morally sound, meritorious and deserving candidates are appointed as Judges of our courts.
“It is the best way to proceed in reforming our judiciary.
“My lords, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, permit me to digress slightly and use this opportunity to correct an impression that has been formed in the minds of some Nigerians as to the role of the National Judicial Council in our judiciary.
“Some litigants and their counsel no longer avail themselves of appropriate judicial processes, but would rather write petition to the Council.
“A most worrisome trend has begun to emerge where petitions are now written to the NJC against even the decisions of the Supreme Court.
“A good example of this ill-advised conduct can be surmised from a recent petition to the NJC by a fairly senior counsel against a decision of a Panel of Justices of the Supreme Court, which heard a pre-election appeal arising from the 2011 Governorship elections.
“The appeal was subsequently dismissed in March 2015 and the dissatisfied appellant and his counsel sought relief with the NJC.
“I must emphasise that the National Judicial Council is not a venue for venting dissatisfaction with the decisions of our courts.”
He warned against these trends, asking lawyers to stop writing such petitions to the Supreme Court since the NJC is not the appropriate place for such petitions.
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