The National Judicial Council (NJC) commenced its last quarterly meeting for 2023 on Wednesday, which will run through Thursday. A crucial agenda item is deliberating on 11 nominees for elevation as Supreme Court justices.
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The candidates were selected from a list of 22 Court of Appeal justices presented by the Federal Judicial Service Commission headed by Chief Justice of Nigeria Kayode Ariwoola. He chairs both bodies.
The NJC’s appointment committee led by next most senior judge Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun will table the picks after conducting marathon interviews last week. Apart from the Supreme Court vacancies, openings for heads of courts and judges were also considered.
Sources revealed all nominees were thoroughly vetted by intelligence and financial crime agencies like DSS, EFCC and ICPC. The committee would likely have discarded names with adverse findings.
One unexplained removal was Justice Muhammad Lawal Shuaibu, the 34th most senior on the appeal court bench. He was dropped from priority consideration before the interviews.
Controversy surrounds two other front runners – Justices Adewale Abiru and Baba Idris. Abiru’s Lagos origin for the sole south west slot is being challenged since the zone is already represented. Justice Idris’ sudden elevation is also raising eyebrows given he is leapfrogging 28 seniors including Justice Amina Wambai from his state.
Another priority nominee whose fate is unpredictable is Justice Baba Idris, son to ex-CJN, now-late IdrisLegboKutigi. His nomination has attracted a lot of attention, considering that he is leap-frogging his senior colleagues, including the one from the same Niger State with him and sharing the same Kaduna Division bench, Justice Amina Audi Wambai.
While Wambai is 28 on Court of Appeal seniority list, Idris is 54. If Idris is elevated, he will spend 17 years at the apex court, serving out the last five as the CJN. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal five years ago.
The Council vets candidates for judicial vacancies across the country before sending final recommended picks to the President.
In recent memory, the ongoing process will mark the first time the Supreme Court will be having a full complement of 21 justices envisaged by the constitution, though Ariwoola’s retirement next year is going to mark the beginning of another round of drop.
A ranking judicial administrator who wanted anonymity to speak freely said of the regular number deficit on the apex bench, “before any vacancy is filled on the bench of Supreme Court or any superior court of record, the process takes sometime.
In some cases, one month, in some other cases, more than a month. Therefore, no one should be held responsible but the mechanism replete on the system.
“Perhaps the mechanism for filling such vacancies should be fast-tracked. NJC has done something in that vein, though” he concluded.
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