Following the statutory retirement of Justice Olukayode Ariwoola on Thursday on his 70th birthday, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun will succeed him as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) in acting capacity.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Justice Kekere-Ekun will assume the position of CJN in acting capacity in line with the tradition as the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Justice Ariwoola joined the Supreme Court on November 22, 2011, and subsequently assumed the role of CJN on June 27, 2022, after the resignation of his predecessor, Justice Tanko Muhammad.
Recall that the National Judicial Council (NJC) at its 106th meeting has recommended Justice Kekere-Ekun to President Bola Tinubu for appointment as CJN.
Kekere-Ekun is expected to take over the leadership of the Nigeria’s judiciary from today as Justice Ariwoola proceeds on statutory retirement having attained the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.
The appointment of Justice Kekere-Ekun as substantive CJN is subject to the approval of President Tinubu. When her appointment is approve, she will be the second woman to be CJN.
On July 16th, 2012, Aloma Mukhtar was sworn in as the first woman CJN by the then serving President Goodluck Jonathan, who conferred on her the National Honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of Niger (GCON).
TNG reports Justice Kekere-Ekun, born in 1958, joined the Supreme Court in July 2013. She was a judge of the High Court of Lagos State before her promotion to the Appeal Court in 2004..
Kekere-Ekun was called to the Bar in 1981 and appointed an Appeal Court judge in 2004. She is due to retire in 2028 when she will attain the 70-year mark.
Groups set agenda for incoming CJN, seeks Supreme Court reform
Meanwhile, some civil society groups have set agenda for Justice Kekere-Ekun, tasking her to address key issues undermining the judiciary’s institutional integrity, effectiveness and service delivery.
The groups made this known on Tuesday in Abuja at a roundtable where a five-point agenda was prepared as a guide for the incoming CJN.
The event was organised by Tap Initiative for Citizen Development in partnership with Network of University Legal Aid Institutions (NULAI).
The Executive Director of Tap Initiative, Martin Obono, while speaking, said Justice Kereke-Ekun must ensure merit-based judicial appointments in line with Section 231 of the 1999 Constitution.
Obono said the new CJN must be ready to address the problem of abuse of interim injunctions and ex-parte orders as well as conflicting judgments by implementing clear guidelines and improving judicial coordination.
He said discipline and accountability should be enhanced within the judiciary, while “the crisis of political cases, election petitions, and judicialisation of politics” should be tackled. Obono equally called for the reform of the Supreme Court.
The Executive Director of Digicivic Initiative, Mojirayo Ogunlana, said reforming the Supreme Court of Nigeria necessitates both structural and procedural enhancements to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. According to her, the Supreme Court is overburdened.
Ogunlana, therefore, said the changes required would entail leadership from the CJN as well as cooperation with the elected branches of government, especially the National Assembly.
“The National Assembly should review and re-enact the Supreme Court Act and amend the constitution to limit the kinds of cases or appeals that can be introduced to the Supreme Court.
“This amendment should enable the Supreme Court to set up a threshold admissibility competence by which it can decline appeals that are unsuitable, unmeritorious, or which merely involve already settled principles of law.
“The full digitisation of the Supreme Court is overdue. Judgments should be publicly available on the day they are delivered and it should be possible to do filings at the court remotely.
“The court needs to implement a structured system of judicial clerkships which would help to relieve justices of some of the tedium of research and writing,” she said.
According to Ogunlana, it is imperative to invest significantly in ongoing training and capacity-building for justices, as emphasised in Section 292 of the 1999 Constitution.
“This training should focus on equipping justices with the skills necessary to navigate complex and evolving fields, such as Information technology and artificial intelligence, which are increasingly relevant in contemporary legal contexts.
“By ensuring that justices are well-prepared and up-to-date with the latest developments in these areas, the judiciary can enhance its ability to handle sophisticated cases effectively and deliver more informed judgments,” she said.
A member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Folarin Aluko, urged the new CJN to urgently tackle the incidences of conflicting judgements and abuse of interim injunctions.
“There should be a clear practice directions on management of territorial jurisdiction overlaps. It is suggested for this purpose that the structure and scope of such overlaps be agreed at the All Nigerian Conference of Judges and the practice directions should be uniform across all the court systems in the country,” he said.
On her part, a rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, called for the introduction of a mechanism for increased financial transparency, accountability and public reporting so as to restore public trust.
She also stated that disciplinary processes should be “both prompt and decisive and dispositions or punishment should be calibrated to be proportionate to the seriousness of the misconduct found.”