Depleted Supreme Court Bench, Plot To Deny Nigerians Justice — Ahamba SAN, Others

The Constitution provides for 21 Justices as a full complement of the apex court’s bench, who are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, subject to confirma­tion by the Nigerian Senate. Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria have a mandatory retirement age of 70 years.

However, over the years, the Supreme Court has been battling to reduce the backlog of appeals pending before it as a result of a depleted number of Justices on its bench either through retirement, resignation, or death.

For instance, barely a week after both former President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo had decried incessant delays in justice delivery, the Supreme Court on November 29, 2021, adjourned a 16-year-old appeal in respect of the Gwandu emirate headship tussle to November 2023.

At virtually every event, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, lamented the depletion of several Justices on the Supreme Court’s bench, and its resultant heavy workload effect on them.

Precisely, on September 15, 2022, Jus­tice Ariwoola, then in an acting capac­ity had at a valedictory ceremony of a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Abdu Aboki, submitted that the exit of one Justice means additional workload on the remaining Jurists.

“A single drop in the number of Justices here brings about a sudden increase in our workload,” Ariwoola had said.

Unarguably, the dwindling number of Justices of the Court has drastically depleted their ranks and opened a yawn­ing gap that will hardly be filled.

As of June 2019, the Supreme Court had 16 Justices, a development that prompted former President Buhari to write the CJN, requesting him as the Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to “initiate in earnest the process of appointing additional five Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to make the full complement of Justices of the Supreme Court,” as contained in the Nigerian Constitution.

As the gap created by the reduction in the number of Justices of the uno nu­mero court in Nigeria widened, the Na­tional Judicial Council recommended the appointment of 8 new judges in 2020.

After the confirmation by the Senate, the number rose to 20 Justices, follow­ing their inauguration on November 8, 2020, by the then Chief Justice of Nige­ria, Justice Tanko Muhammad. Those sworn in were Justices Lawal Garba, North West; Helen M. Ogunwumiju, South West; Addu Aboki, North West; M. M. Saulawa, North West; Adamu Jau­ro, North East; Samuel C. Oseji, South- South; Tijjani Abubakar, North East, and Emmanuel A. Agim, South-South.

Nevertheless, the vacuum created by the death of Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta, the retirement of Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, the death of Justice Samuel Oseji, the retirement of Justice Mary Odili, the retirement of Justice Ejembi Eko, the retirement of Justice Abdu Aboki and the resignation of Chief Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muham­mad, drastically depleted the Justices to 13, since August 2022.

Sadly, on July 30, 2023, Justice Centus Chima Nweze died, while Justice Ami­na Augie, bowed out of the apex court’s bench on September 3, after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70.

The 11 current Supreme Court judges and the geopolitical zones they represent are CJN Ariwoola, Oyo State (South-west); Musa Dattijo Muhammad, Niger State (North-central); Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Lagos State (South-west); John Inyang Okoro, Akwa Ibom state (North-west); and Justice Uwani Musa Abba Aji, Yobe State (North-east).

Others include Justices Mohammed Lawal Garba, Zamfara state (North-west); Helen Ogunwumiju, Ondo State (South-west) Justice Ibrahim M. Saula­wa, Katina State (North-west); Adamu Jauro, Gombe State (North-east); Tijjani Abubakar, Yobe State (North-east); and Emmanuel Akomaye Agim– Cross Riv­er State (South-south).

Filling the Supreme Court bench with its full complement of 21 Justices has remained a feat the court has never attained.

Reacting on the issue, one of Ni­geria’s legal luminaries, Chief Mike Ahamba, SAN, submitted that every right-thinking Nigerian should know the implications of having 11 Justices out of 21 on the Supreme Court bench. Ahamba stated that it would slow down the pace of work and consequently place a heavy workload on the jurists.

“Everybody who has a brain will know that the reduction in the number of Justices of the Supreme Court will result in a heavy workload on them. But I don’t know why the process has not taken place so that new Justices will be recommended and appointed to fill the vacant positions on the bench of the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, this type of issue should happen. That’s the much I can say.

Honestly, the situation implies more heavy workload on the 11 Justices, be­cause there was already a heavy work­load on the Justices. Maybe, in the next two years or later this year, another Jus­tice may go. I don’t know whether they want the Supreme Court to shut down,” Ahamba stated.

Though Ahamba said he does not work with the National Judicial Coun­cil, however, he expressed concern about the development. On the perceived si­lence of the NJC, Chief Ahamba said, “I don’t work with them and I don’t know why it’s so. All I know is that myself, I’m concerned, surprised, confused, and worried about the whole situation.”

Speaking too, Innocent Daagba, a lawyer based in Abuja said the implica­tion of having 11 Justices out of 21 on the Supreme Court bench “is grave. We cannot say the Supreme Court Justices are young. Age is not on their side in terms of the volume of work they had passed through from the High Court bench, Appeal Court, and now the Su­preme Court. I have always wondered. Why would we as a country not at any point in time have a full complement of Justices of the Supreme Court when we have competent Judges of the Court of Appeal that can be elevated? Certainly, what we have now is a very grave sit­uation.

“Imagine, we have three appeals from the presidential election petition court. Now you need a panel of at least five Justices to sit on an appeal, and we are talking about three appeals. How will they cope? That’s besides other appeals that are coming. For instance, I have one constitutional matter coming that requires 7 Justices to sit on the panel. We are talking about seven out of 11 sitting on a constitutional matter that cuts across the interest of all the States. So, that’s why I said it’s a grave situation, that is not palatable. The workload and burden are heavy, and we cannot deny that fact.”

Another legal practitioner, Mr. Bona Ugwu, described the situation as a big challenge. “Having 11 Justices out of the constitutionally required full comple­ment of 21 is a problem because there are vacancies at the Supreme Court bench to fill.

“Some have retired, some are dead and those vacant positions are yet to be filled. Very soon, the Justices will be constituted to hear the presidential election petition appeals and they have been reduced to 11 in number. To con­stitute 7 Justices out of 11, may not be a good one because there will be no wide room to select from. Apart from that, cas­es are suffering at the Supreme Court, and most of them last up to a decade or even more than that before they are listed for hearing. Priority is only given to election petitions, politically related cases, and to an extent criminal cases; civil cases suffer in the Supreme Court because of the few number of Justices on the apex court bench. This is a prob­lem and it is a very worrisome develop­ment,” Barrister Ugwu stated.

Who is to blame? Mr. Ugwu said “The NJC has to do what it is constitutionally required to do by recommending Jus­tices to the President for appointment to fill those vacancies at the Supreme Court bench. The NJC ought to know and ought to have done that. It is com­pelling that NJC recommends Justices to the President”.

On his part, another Abuja-based constitutional lawyer and rights activ­ist, Maxwell Opara, said the situation is worrisome.

“That we now have 11 Justices on the Supreme Court bench is not just worri­some, but a big problem. As I speak to you now, the entire South East region has no representation in the Supreme Court Bench, following the death of Justice Centus Nweze in July this year. Before now, the Justices were over­worked, and now having 11 Justices is a big problem in the country’s judiciary. It will affect our economy because foreign and local investors would not want to come and put their money in a country where there is a slow dispensation of justice. The last time I went to the Su­preme Court was in February this year or so, and the matters that were listed were cases of 2005 and 2007. The work­load is too much on the Justices because of their number, and that is why we are having long adjustments that take up to a decade for a case to be determined. Justice delayed, they say, is justice de­nied. The only cases you can see at the Supreme Court are election petitions and political, and criminal matters.

“I expect the NJC to live up to its stat­utory function of appointing and rec­ommending Justices to the President. I wonder why it’s taking time for these recommendations to be made. Anyway, I don’t know whether the process is on­going but we have Justices that can fill up the vacant positions at the Supreme Court bench. Honestly, this is a very se­rious problem, and something timely should be done to avoid the Supreme Court Justices from being further re­duced”.

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, also frowned at the depleted number of Justices of the apex court, saying it has overburdened the jurists.

However, he demanded the imme­diate appointment of additional Jus­tices to achieve the full complement of 21 Justices of the Supreme Court, as prescribed by Section 230(1) (B) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The NBA President spoke at the valedictory court session recently held in honour of Justice Amina Adamu Augie, who retired from the Supreme Court bench.

The exit of Justice Augie, “has fur­ther reduced the number of Justices of the Supreme Court, with the attendant increase in the workload of the already overworked/overburdened and, unfor­tunately, poorly remunerated Justices,” Maikyau stated.

He, therefore, called for the amend­ment of the Constitution to increase the threshold for the number of Justices to be appointed to the Supreme Court and to reduce the number of matters that get to the Supreme Court by limiting the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to certain constitutional matters.

In the face of this shortfall in the number of Justices of the apex court, a source in the NJC hinted that the pro­cess of recommending at least 8 Justices to the President is almost completed.

“We are disturbed about the issue but I can assure you that, very soon, new Justices will be appointed to fill some of the vacant positions.”

 

 

 PASCHAL NJOKU writes on the backdrop of ongoing reforms in the country’s judiciary, and how the dwindling number of justices on the Supreme Court bench has constituted a clog in the wheels of quick dispensation of justice.