Casting the net wide will infuse fresh perspectives to justice
The invitation extended to qualified lawyers to apply to be appointed either to the Court of Appeal or to the Supreme Court, by then acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, is a welcome departure from the existing procedure of appointing only sitting judges from the lower courts. Even though appointing sitting judges has its own advantages, the injection of qualified lawyers with requisite years of advocacy experience or from the academia, could infuse in the courts fresh perspective to appellate justice.
In determining lawyers to be appointed to the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court, the criteria should be productivity, intelligence and experience. It does not bode well for the efficiency of our appellate courts, which are imbued with enormous responsibilities and powers, for such appointments to be based only on regular promotion of judges from the lower courts, or on quota system or other parochial criteria. Such approach could give room for the promotion of mainly judges who play by the rules, instead of advancing the course of justice.
Indeed, in some other jurisdictions, eminent lawyers who have distinguished themselves in other fields of human endeavour get nominated to the Supreme Court, where they use their wealth of experience to advance legal jurisprudence. In the United States of America, Justice William Howard Taft was appointed to the Supreme Court (1921 to 1930) after he had served as the President of the country from 1909 to 1913. So, lawyers who have distinguished themselves in legal practice, academia or even at the high courts, should be encouraged to be nominated to the appellate courts.
Perhaps the makers of our constitution realised the need to throw the net wide enough, to catch the best that are qualified to be appointed to either of the appellate courts. According to section 231(3) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended: “A person shall not be qualified to hold the office of Chief Justice of Nigeria or a Justice of the Supreme Court, unless he is qualified to practise as a legal practitioner in Nigeria and has been so qualified for a period of not less than fifteen years”.
A similar provision is also made by section 238(3) of the constitution, with regards to the appointment of a Justice of the Court of Appeal: “A person shall not be qualified to hold the office of a Justice of the Court of Appeal unless he is qualified to practise as a legal practitioner in Nigeria and has been so qualified for a period of not less than twelve years”.So, while by practice judges get elevated from the high court to the Court of Appeal and from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, it is clear from the two provisions quoted that qualified lawyers can also be brought from other fields to enrich the panels of the appellate courts.
While we have not had a recent experience of lawyers getting appointed directly to the appeal courts, we had the experience of Justice Taslim Elias who became the Chief Justice after serving as the Attorney General of the Federation, during the regime of Gen Yakubu Gowon. Of course we are not advocating any arbitrary appointment of judges as could happen under a military regime, but our judiciary may gain from the infusion of carefully screened fresh blood, once in a while.
In supporting the recent initiative of the new CJN, we are not unmindful of the genuine concerns expressed by a section of the public, as to whether such external appointments could dampen the moral of judges who hope to rise through the ranks from the high courts. For us, that worry is moderated by the size of the appellate courts, such that a few external appointments, instead of threatening career judges, would rather expose them to competition which should bring out the best in them. It will also enable the country to tap into the skills of lawyers who have distinguished themselves elsewhere, before opting to go to the bench.
We restate that the guiding principle should be competence, integrity and productivity. While we could afford to play politics with executive and legislative appointments, the judiciary is too vital to the survival and success of a modern society to be toyed with. As Vice President Yemi Osinbajo noted about the powers of a judge at the swearing in of Justice Onnoghen as CJN, “It is the closest that man serves as Almighty God, having powers of lives, livelihoods and futures, having power to give and indeed to take away power, and authority ….”
We hope the National Judicial Council (NJC) will select the best lawyers, to serve at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
