CJN wants amendment of Nigerian laws to stop ‘most’ cases at Appeal Court
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, has advocated an amendment to the Nigerian constitution to stop most cases from getting to the Supreme Court.
Mr Ariwoola spoke against the backdrop of the enormous workload the 10-member Supreme Court currently grapples with, with many civil and political cases lingering for years before being decided.
The CJN said this on Monday in Abuja at the special session of the Supreme Court to mark the commencement of the 2023/2024 legal year and conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on 58 lawyers.
“I have made it clear at different occasions that it is not every dispute that must find its way to the court, and it is not every matter that must come up to the Supreme Court on appeal,” Mr Ariwoola said.
“Our laws have to be amended to make most appeals end at the Court of Appeal,” he added, saying the appellate court is competent to adjudicate on all cases.
Mr Ariwoola also urged Nigerians to be less litigious and embrace alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms.
There have been futile calls by retiring justices of the Supreme Court for a reduction in the type of cases that get to the Supreme Court. However, only amendments to the Nigerian constitution and other relevant laws by the parliament can achieve that if signed into law by the president.
Breakdown of Supreme Court cases
Giving a breakdown of cases that were decided and those pending at the court, the CJN said a total of 1,271 appeals and motions were filed in the outgone year.
“Out of these, we heard 388 political appeals, 215 criminal appeals, and 464 civil appeals. Similarly, the court considered a total number of 49 criminal motions, 153 civil motions, and two political motions,” he said.
The CJN disclosed that the Supreme Court, between September 2022 and July 2023, delivered a total number of 251 judgements.
“Out of these, 125 were political appeals, 81 were civil appeals and 45 were criminal appeals. Within the period under review (precisely 10 months’ duration), a total number of 91 Rulings were delivered by the Honourable Court,” Mr Ariwoola said, praising the Supreme Court for its output in the last legal year.
With less than a year left for Mr Ariwoola as the CJN, he vowed to leave a legacy of having 11 more justices to the Supreme Court to achieve the unprecedented full complement of 21 justices.
‘Corrupt judge shakes litigants faith’
Speaking on the need for judges to be upright, the CJN said integrity remains an essential quality of a judicial officer.
He urged judges to exhibit “the standards of integrity, morality, and good behaviour” in the discharge of their duties.
“In a situation where a judge decides a case wrongly out of motives, it shakes the faith of the litigant public; and by extension, the whole society.”
Mr Ariwoola noted that a corrupt judge “has no right to continue to occupy the chair as a judicial officer.”
He admonished judges to “lead a disciplined and principled lifestyle that will enhance their trust and integrity quotient.”
Public confidence in the Nigerian judiciary has plummeted in recent times because of allegations of corruption against judges.
A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata, recently spoke about corruption and other ills plaguing the country’s judicial system.
While also retiring from the Supreme Court bench last month, Dattijo Muhammad criticised the Nigerian judiciary for alleged corruption that he said permeated its hierarchies.
He also criticised some recent decisions of the Supreme Court and other Nigerian courts, as well as the flawed and arbitrary appointments of judges in the country.
He made scathing comments about the alleged corrupt handling of the judiciary’s funds and the judiciary’s affairs in the Supreme Court and other courts down the hierarchy of the Nigerian judiciary.
AGF, others speak
In an address at the Supreme Court event on Monday, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, advised the National Judicial Council (NJC) to quicken the process of filling the vacancies at the Supreme Court.
Mr Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), expressed President Bola Tinubu’s “readiness to implement judicial reforms with the cooperation of the judiciary.
“We, therefore, earnestly await the judiciary to set the ball rolling to enable the other arms to play their part in this critical aspect of nation-building,” he said.
Delays in the adjudication of cases have hampered efficient justice delivery in Nigeria, with legal experts calling for urgent reforms.
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The Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) represented by Ebun Sofunde, a SAN, said Nigerians were fast losing hope in the capacity of the judiciary to deliver justice timeously.
In response to the problem, Mr Sofunde said disgruntled Nigerians were resorting to law enforcement agents for settling disputes, a situation he described as illegal.
“Law enforcement agents now fill the void created by inefficient judicial system.
“When judges are overwhelmed by work burden, they see adjudication of cases as perfunctory,” he said.
The lawyer explained that excessive workload on judges impacts negatively on the quality of decisions emanating from the courts.
He warned that citizens’ loss of confidence in the justice system births anarchy.
He advised the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC), a body saddled with the conferment of the rank of SAN, to review its criteria in terms of the number of concluded cases lawyers are required to have in their kitty before applying for the prestigious award.
Mr Sofunde noted that the criterion concerning the number of cases to be filed by SAN applicants puts pressure on the courts as lawyers lodge frivolous suits that end up clogging the courts’ dockets.
Advising the new SANs, the AGF warned against unprofessional conduct.
He said the latest guidelines of the LPPC do not permit restoration of the SAN rank once it is withdrawn for violation of the rules.
Mr Fagbemi urged the lawyers to assist the courts in justice dispensation.
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