SUPREME COURT: Tension In The Judiciary Over Justice Nominations

The Supreme Court of Nigeria 

Court in disarray over the nomination of 22 judges for the Supreme Court

Given the list that the Federal Judicial Service Commission, or FJSC, released last Thursday, a number of senior sitting and retired judges are furious.

President Bola Tinubu may be headed toward direct conflict with a larger group of senior Nigerian bench members, according to a senior justice who claimed that “never in the history of Nigeria has the appointment of Supreme Court justices been this politicized.”

The son of a previous Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, was designated as a priority in the North-Central zone case, while a senior jurist with over 15 years of experience in the Court of Appeal was placed as a reserve. This case, according to another Justice, is contentious.

What’s most peculiar about the current method, the Justice said, is that “the South-South slot where the person adjudged as the very best is curiously pencilled as reserve.”

According to sources, of the four that were given to the FJSC, the Justice designated as priority was not shortlisted during the processing step.

“The question many in the Judicial circle are asking is: how did someone who did not make the short-list suddenly emerge as priority over and above the person adjudged to be the best,” the source asked.

According to the source, the South-South's reserve justice was the front-runner in 2019 but was eliminated because he was deemed too young at 53. The source further stated, “How did he suddenly drop four years after when he has been rated so highly?

“In the North-West, some Justices wondered how Justice AB Gumel was dropped from the list "despite being the number one on the list of jurists from his zone.”

According to the source, a judge who was a reserve candidate in 2019 in the South-West is still on the reserve list, while a justice who was never shortlisted was given precedence.

Some prominent members of the Nigerian judiciary warned that the enmity and low morale inside the branch would deepen if it was not addressed immediately.