*Agabi: “Nothing Wrong with Lagos Governor Honoring CJN, Judges Deserve Commendation”
*Akintola: “Critics are Idle, CJN Served State for 40 Years, Deserves Honor”
*Anachebe: “Governor Honoring CJN Not Aberration, Focus on Judicial Independence”
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Senior lawyers from across Nigeria have come to the defense of newly appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun after she faced criticism for attending a dinner hosted in her honor by the Lagos State Government last Saturday.
Critics, including former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Prof. Chidi Odinkalu and former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission Dr. Sam Amadi, had claimed Justice Kekere-Ekun’s attendance at the event amounted to fraternizing with litigants and compromised the independence of the judiciary.
However, prominent lawyers rejected this perspective interview with vanguard as a misunderstanding of the separation of powers and judicial independence. Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Chief Kanu Agabi stated, “I see absolutely nothing wrong with the Governor of Lagos State commending the CJN. Why not? These judges sacrifice so much. We should commend them.”
Chief Adeniyi Akintola dismissed the critics as “idle” and having “nothing good to say about any other person.” He said: “I do not agree with them. Trust some Nigerians, they believe that what they do not know does not exist. That has been the bane of our national development. Even that has not been allowing them to think straight. If somebody is being honoured by her state for her contribution to the development of our jurisprudence, how should that become an issue?
“The truth is that some of these people don’t have jobs to do. Some of these critics have nothing to do. Some are so idle. They don’t think straight. This is a woman who has been serving her state for over 40 years culminating into her serving her own country and indeed, Africa and some people think what they should do is to denigrate her out of ignorance, mischief, laziness and politics.
“Look at those who have been criticising her for being honoured? Who are they? Who are these fellows? What have been their contributions to national development? Take a look at them, in what areas have they excelled? In what way have their conducts been commendable in terms of national development? Nil. If you look at them, I don’t dignify such people with my attention or comments. I don’t even read their comments. This is because they just don’t have anything good to say about any other person. They are as useless as their comments.”
Meanwhile, Professor Itse Sagay called the criticisms “absolute nonsense” and said those making them were doing so “out of ignorance.” His words: “Absolute nonsense. There is nothing wrong at all with the Chief Justice of Nigeria being seen with the governor. They are all major public officers. The executive is number one in the hierarchy and the judiciary is number three. And they are very essential to the survival of the state. It is good that they should be on good terms and that they should be talking to one another. If they are estranged and they are not talking to one another, governance will lose severely. I think it is a very good step. Those who are criticising it are just doing it out of ignorance,” he explained.
Mr. Benbella Anachebe said such events honoring judges were “not an aberration” and that the real focus should be on “how the operators, the men and women, who sit on the bench in this country, can assert their independence when dealing with matters that come before them.” According to him,:“My take is that the three arms of government are interrelated both constitutionally and in practice. They are supposed to complement one another. Ordinarily, one would expect that the judiciary is the one that is least visible except through its pronouncements. But we are also Africans. It is a norm. It is not an aberration to have a state governor honouring one of its citizens who has brought honour to his state. It is not absurd. It is not unheard of. It has happened in the past in so many climes. The truth be told, we are still an evolving democracy. And the problem of the judiciary today cannot be visited squarely on the politicians. The judiciary is populated by supposed learned people who are lawyers, first and foremost. And we all passed through schools and grew up to know what is obtainable, what is ethically permissible and what is not.
“The fact that a state governor hosted the CJN, I don’t see it as a big deal. I was there when the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria and the Lagos State Government hosted the immediate past CJN at the Lagos Continental Hotel. It is not a big deal. What we should be concerned about is how the operators, the men and women, who sit on the bench in this country, can assert their independence when dealing with matters that come before them.”
That will be dependent on individual or personal perspective. Not as an institution. The institution is already there, well guarded by the constitution. But are the operators willing to abide by the powers vested in them?”
The senior lawyers argued that Justice Kekere-Ekun’s decades of distinguished service to Lagos State and Nigeria’s legal system deserved to be celebrated, and that her attendance at the state dinner did not compromise her impartiality or independence as Chief Justice.
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