CJN: Judges under probe for conflicting decisions

•CJN Justice Mahmud Mohammed
    

Judges who issue confliciting judgments were warned yesterday to pull the brakes on their action.

The National Judicial Council (NJC) is probing their actions, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Mahmud Mohammed said.

Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami (SAN) and a leader of the Body of Senior Advocates on Nigeria, T. J. O. Okpoko (SAN), just like Justice Mohammed, are also worried over the rising trend of conflicting judgments.

Justice Mohammed, Malami and Okpoko said instances where lower courts of coordinate jurisdiction render conflicting judgments on similar cases and at some instances, ignore established precedents were harmful to the integrity and reputation of the Judiciary.

The CJN said judges found wanting would be punished.

Justice Mohammed, Malami and Okpoko spoke in Abuja at a special court session mark the opening of the Supreme Court’s 2016/2017 legal year and the swearing-in of new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN).

In all, 22 lawyers were conferred with the rank yesterday, among them the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School (NLS), Mr. Olanrewaju Onadeko.

The CJN said: “It is with great trepidation and dismay that I note the growing trend of the disregard for laid down precedent in decisions from various levels of courts, even the appellate court.

“I am of the firm conviction that every court in Nigeria is bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court and shall not graft a different outcome from those expressly laid down by the Supreme Court.

“Such departures from precedent therefore risk creating the type of confusion, which is inimical to the trust reposed in us by the people and we risk our reputations, our integrity and even our existence by such indiscipline.

“Several conflicting decisions were recklessly dished out by the Court of Appeal last year in appeals arising from various decisions of the Election Petitions Tribunals, given on election petitions filed by the parties who lost in the general elections conducted in April 2015.

“Such decisions were made as the result of flagrant refusal of the panels of the Court of Appeal involved to be bound not only by its own decisions but also by the decisions of this Court.”

“I therefore call on our judicial officers to have due respect for the law and strive to adjudicate in a manner that is premised upon the principles of Justice.  Little wonder therefore that people are now increasingly looking at Alternative Dispute Resolution in order to engender more certainty to the resolution of their disputes,” the CJN said.

Justice Mohammed, who frowned at moves to subvert the court’s succession tradition, stated that it was better to retain the practice where the most senior Justice succeeds a departing CJN.

“While I would admit that there is no constitutional restriction as to where those to be appointed are selected from, the long-held practice, which I daresay has been apolitical, transparent and fair, has been to appoint the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court to the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

“With the exception of two Chief Justices, who were appointed from outside the Supreme Court during the military regimes and in exceptional circumstances, this system has proven to be seamless, predictable, respectable and dignified.

“The idea that we can appoint a legal practitioner, without the proven experience or the temperance of character developed through years of active participation in adjudication, may indeed be fraught with risk, none greater than the risk of creating another sinecure for party loyalists or reducing the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria to one which can be ‘lobbied’ for.

“This will undoubtedly and irreversibly hurt our justice system and must be strenuously resisted,” he said.

Justice Mohammed, who noted that the Supreme Court performed exceedingly well in the last legal year by handling 1489 cases, blamed delay in court process on lawyers.

“Sadly, certain members of the Bar are conspicuous in utilising unethical, frivolous applications and appeals, multiplicity of actions in courts of coordinate jurisdiction and other acts of calumny to frustrate the speedy dispensation of justice.

“These abuses of court process not only occasion delays, but also diminish the standing of the justice system and the legal profession in the eyes of Nigerians,” he said.