Access to Justice (A2Justice) has decried the Political interference in the appointment of judicial officers in Nigeria. The appointment of relatives, associates or cronies of political office holders happens because the Judiciary has not risen to the challenge of defending its space and asserting its own independence. In a statement signed by the director, Access to Justice, Joseph Otteh and the programme officer, Joshua Nwachukwu, and made available to TheNigerialawyer on Monday, A2Justice has consistently denounced the use of flawed procedures of judicial appointment to recruit Judges of Superior Courts and highlighted the negative impact this has had on the administration of justice. According to A2Justice,National Judicial Council (“NJC”) must share in the blame because they give room for the interference of judicial appointment by politicians. “In 2014, in a bid to strengthen the integrity of the judicial appointment process, the NJC adopted the new Guidelines for the appointment of judicial officers (The Extant Revised NJC Guidelines & Procedural Rules for The Appointment of Judicial Officers of All Superior Courts of Record in Nigeria.) However, the NJC has not consistently enforced those guidelines or resisted efforts to circumvent them. “In some cases, the Council has practically given some Judiciaries which flouted those guidelines what amounted to a free pass even after complaints about their failure to observe the guidelines were made. This happened with the recruitments of Judges into the Federal High Court in 2015, and the appointment of Judges in Lagos State in 2017. “The Nigerian Judiciary should not, and cannot now blow hot and cold at the same time on the subject of political interference in the judicial recruitment process or pass the buck when it comes to the responsibility of de-politicizing the appointment process.” Recall that at the just concluded Lagos State Judiciary’s first Bi-annual Lecture, themed “Judicial Standards, Integrity, Respect and Public Perception: A Comparative Analysis from Independence in 1960 into the Present Millennium”, the Chief Justice of the Federation, Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen, (ably represented by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour), lamented on the heavy politicization and undue interference of politicians in judicial appointments. According to the CJN, the current system of Judges’ appointment in the country is such that the Governor of a State might not allow the names of persons nominated for judicial appointment to be sent to the National Judicial Council for scrutiny if the names of the Governor’s candidates are not included on the list. Also former CJN, Justice Mariam Aloma- Mukhtar at the book presentation held in honour of Justice Clara Ogunbiyi (RTD), said that it is sad that we allow the rising culture of lobbying to influence appointment in the judiciary and that lobbying, favoritism, and godfatherism should be discouraged and discarded, as they lead to the fall in standard, and instead of enhancing the institution, they devalue and weaken it because of incompetence of the person. Access to Justice lauded the CJN for exposing the truth and drawing the attention of the public to this ugly trend in the judicial appointment. On this regard, it is respectfully calling on the NJC to insist that State and Federal Judiciaries faithfully and scrupulously comply with the letter and spirit of the new Guidelines it has made as Nigerians are keen to hear about practical efforts being made by our Judiciary to end political interference with the judicial appointment process. Access to Justice further stated that where NJC fails to do the needful, the failure will create the space for those who have traditionally preyed on the weaknesses of our judiciary to continue to do so. ]]>

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