Some lawyers have expressed discontent to the submission of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad, for the reduction of the number of Supreme Court Justices from 21 to 16.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the CJN on June 3, presented to the Senate Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution as amended a 45- point constitutional proposal on judicial reforms for amendment.
Some legal practitioners, who spoke to NAN in Abuja, disagreed with Muhammad on the proposal.
Mr Abdulhamid Mohammed, a lawyer, said instead of reducing the number, the apex court judges should be increased to ensure quick dispensation of cases.
“Sometimes, lawyers differ from opinion of judges. As a practitioner, the fact is that the Supreme Court is overwhelmed at the moment.
“Every consequential issue that you have an appeal on, you take it to the Supreme Court; divorce matters go up to the Supreme Court, land matters go to Supreme Court, etc., except the Industrial Court matters which stop at the Court of Appeal.
“So, the Supreme Court is overwhelmed especially when there is election petition matters at the Supreme Court.
“You will see in the whole legal year, those matters that go to Supreme Court, the judges might not even handle them because they are overwhelmed,” he said.
Mohammed further stated, “Sometimes you go to Supreme Court and you discover that a panel that is supposed to handle a particular matter may not be fully constituted. Then, they have to go back and constitute that panel and what brought about this is actually because the number of judges are not adequate in my own humble opinion.
“The situation warrants that in every civil appeal, they go to Supreme Court; criminal appeal, they go to Supreme Court; and even interlocutory appeal, they go to Supreme Court. That is why the Supreme Court is overwhelmed with many appeals. Therefore, before an appeal is determined at the Supreme Court, it may take years.”
According to him, it is only increase in number of judged that can address that. He noted that some people had advocated that the apex court be divided into divisions in order to facilitate speedy dispensation of justice.
Also, a Lagos-based lawyer, Josephine Uzoya-Ijekhuemen, said she did not agree with the submission by the CJN. She said, “As we stand, the court is already overwhelmed and we do not have the requisite number of Justices to date. So, reducing them further is not a good idea and will only result in hardships and delays which is not good for justice.”
Ede Joshua-Oritsegbemi, said,
“With profound respect to His Lordship, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, I don’t hold same view that the number of Supreme Court justices should be reduced to 16 from 21. My candid opinion is that the number of justices be increased beyond 21,” he said.
Joshua-Oritsegbemi, a civil right activist, stressed that “The Supreme Court should have other judicial divisions of, at least, one in each geo-political zones of Nigeria. The National Headquarters should be in Abuja. We cannot afford to comfortably and reasonably do otherwise in this current reality that is facing us.”
The lawyers, who backed the CJN on altering the the 1999 Constitution to mandate the National Judicial Council to fix and review salaries of judges every four years, however disagreed with him on the suggestions that all appeals from the Court of Appeal should be by leave of the Supreme Court.
Mohammed said the review of the judges’ salaries would increase their productivity noting, however that the salaries of most of the judicial workers were stagnant, just as Uzoya-Ijekhuemen said the submission CJN proposal would give greater independence to the National Judicial Council.
