When cultural groups, bar associations, social media commentators and TV analysts are all unanimously schooling the Buhari administration on the need to comply with a simple and straightforward constitutional requirement, the question must arise on which of the three categories best explains the government’s recalcitrance. Is it incompetence, indolence, or malevolence? To evaluate the competence of the Buhari administration consider this. After running for office for 12 years and inspite of having ruled before, it took him 6 months to nominate a cabinet. By contrast two week-old US president Trump who barely ran for office for two US and had never held office before, named his entire cabinet before he was sworn. Despite taking 6 months to nominate a cabinet, its now 11 months and president Buhari is unable to fill the vacancy of late James Ocholi. This means although he must have had at list 3 candidates on his list from Kogi, he has not been able to go into his file and submit runner up #2 or 3. In the current case, the National Judicial Council recommended the appointment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria. They did their homework per the constitution. Based on seniority, Justice Walter Onnoghen is the one due for the position. The chronology of who is due for Chief Justice has has been known since before this administration came to power. That’s how the judiciary works unlike other arms. It is how the military hierarchy operates from which constituency General Buhari came. His responsibility is not to screen him. The only constitutional duty is to deliver it to the senate for confirmation where that will take place. The president and acting president have failed to forward a letter from NJC to NASS. This is why we have a looming leadership crisis in the third arm of govt orchestrated not by the second arm, the legislative, but by the first arm – the executive. Accordingly where as it is true that the history of government appointments has been plagued with seeming incompetence, one must evaluate if this indolence. The new UN General Secretary requested for Amina Mohammed as his deputy well before he assumed office. A responsible government would have started looking for her replacement in advance too. Indeed Buhari requested Amina Mohammed early enough from the UN before nominating her as Minister of Environment to allow for smooth transition. However this govt is actually now losing valuable team members! The above shows that they have the ability to be competent if they so choose but indolence can negate competence. It is neither possible that President Buhari took the NJC’s recommendation letter to London nor that Acting President and law professor Osibanjo does not know and is not aware of the clamor for action on the appointment. The final explanation could be that of malevolence. While the prevalent narrative is that this is the first southerner to ascend to this position in 3 decades and therefore it is discrimination, it behoves us to look into the occupational hazard of being a judge in the context of the particular actors. President Buhari has had a controversial relationship with the judiciary. While many are aware of his government’s unprecedented assault on senior judges some of whom reportedly haven’t ruled his way (though some do have questions to answer if properly tabled before the NJC), he has also shown favor via ambassadorial nominations to justices who ruled in his favor during his unsuccessful election petitions. Ironically Justice Onnoghen is one of those dissenting judges who ruled in favor of General Buhari in his last election petition. Since the inauguration of President Buhari, Justice Onnoghen similarly ruled that senate President Saraki’s tribunal trial could continue – a position championed by Buhari in his bid to unseat the head of the second arm of government. The question therefore is, if Buhari could nominate other judges who ruled in his favor for positions they never dreamt off, what is so wrong that he cannot forward Justice Onnoghen’s name for a position he is entitled to? More disturbing even is the report that the president has resubmitted the nomination for EFCC chairman after it was rejected for failure of DSS security report. Yet Justice Onnoghen who has passed previous DSS security reports is not allowed even the opportunity to be screened. This speaks to the problem of Justice for justices. It is manifestly unfair for people who administer justice for all not to be given justice for themselves. Indeed his Lordship has not gotten even a hearing much less a fair hearing. He has been denied his proverbial day in court! The tussle over Chief Judgeship is common in states where governors try to intimidate independent judges and replace them with minions. The NJC has often been the hope and salvation of such judges by rescuing them to the federal bench. For the FGN to now perpetrate a similar folly at the center and at the apex court, leaves no hope for the commoners’ judge. The hallowed halls of the federal judiciary are the last bastion of courageous judges and to violate this sacred sanctuary doesn’t bode well. One of the tragedies of this regime is that most of their crises are self-afflicted and so avoidable. Another travesty is that the greatest injuries to the judiciary occurred under the first administration that had a senior lawyer as Vice President. Their failure to submit Justice Onnoghen’s name unfortunately implies, true or otherwise, that Buhari is sectional, that Osinbajo is marginalized and that our citizenship, nationhood and democracy are all questionable. If people have to beg the executive to do their job by sending Justice Onnoghen’s name for senate confirmation, it means even simple things they should do on the economy etc, they are not doing. Even if they send Justice Onnoghen’s name today, the harm has been done. Nigerians now know that their government is incapable of doing the simplest things without heating the polity and public outcry and that Nigerians cannot assume that just because the VP is a lawyer, this administration will tow the path of constitutionality. However this imbroglio ends, it has been an unfortunate civics lesson for Nigerians that the constitution is only as good as its operators and that people who may not be financially corrupt might still have ulterior motives. Emmanuel Ogebe is a US based Nigerian lawyer and judiciary expert]]>