Do justice, Justice Kekere-Ekun

LAST week, following the retirement of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70,  and based on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC), President Bola Tinubu swore in Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun as the new CJN, subject to confirmation by the Senate. Customarily, the NJC recommends the most senior Justice of the apex court to the president for appointment as CJN. Kekere-Ekun, 66, is poised to become Nigeria’s 23rd CJN, and is only the second female to attain the position after Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, who served as CJN between July 2012 and November 2014.  Born in London, United Kingdom, on May 7, 1958, Kekere-Ekun attended Queen’s College, Lagos, for her secondary education, after which she obtained her LL.B in 1980 from the University of Lagos and her LL.M from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in November 1983. She was called to the Nigerian Bar on July 10, 1981 and was in private practice from 1985 to 1989 before her appointment as Senior Magistrate Grade II in the Lagos State Judiciary in December 1989. Appointed as a judge of the High Court of Lagos State on July 19, 1996, Kekere-Ekun got elevated to the Court of Appeal on September 22, 2004, and to the Supreme Court Bench as the fifth female justice on July 8, 2013.

During the swearing-in ceremony at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja, President Tinubu urged the acting CJN to defend the independence of the judiciary and promote the cause of justice. He said: “Undoubtedly, the position of the Chief Justice of Nigeria comes with enormous responsibilities as the head of all judicial institutions in the country. It is a position of considerable influence that demands temperance and sobriety. The occupant of the office must exude the highest level of integrity in the discharge of their duties. This is more so because of the finality of the Supreme Court’s judgments. I, therefore, urge your Lordship to be faithful and loyal to the Constitution when discharging your duty as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria.I also encourage you to defend the judiciary’s independence and always promote the cause of justice. It is vital that you strengthen all mechanisms for integrity, discipline, and transparency in the judicial sector, and pursue other reforms or initiatives to sustain and build public confidence in the judiciary.”

On her part, the Acting CJN promised to restore confidence in the judiciary, saying that improving the Judiciary is a collective responsibility. Her words: “We will make sure that people have more confidence in the judiciary, and I believe that it is not a one-man job. We all have to be on board because we all see the areas that are in need of improvement. I believe that there will be maximum cooperation because we all want to see a better judiciary. A better judiciary is for the benefit of the entire nation. Whatever the shortcomings that we see today are, we are all members of the society so, if we want to see a better society, if we want to see improvement, let the improvement start with each and every one of us and our approach to justice. Let us all have faith in the system and then also be particular about the process of appointment. I know it is a source of a lot of concern; the issue of discipline on the bench and at the bar as well. All of these things are aspects that we will look into and I believe that by the grace of God, at the end of my tenure, we should be able to have a judiciary that we will all be proud of.”

To be sure, Kekere-Ekun’s elevation to the judiciary’s top job is no mean feat. It is good to see Nigerian women breaking the proverbial glass ceiling and we hope that she will justify the confidence reposed in her by Lady Justice. Just before her swearing in, a panel of stakeholders comprising Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and notable activists charged her to be prepared to sanitise the judiciary to restore public confidence in that arm of government. The panelists, at a discussion in Abuja, lamented that the judiciary is currently in the woods with a battered image and must be totally reformed in the interest of justice delivery. Among other recommendations, they charged Kekere-Ekun to be prepared to reform judicial appointments in such a way as to eliminate nepotism and favouritism, rise to the challenge of arresting the issuance of conflicting judgments and orders by courts of coordinate jurisdiction, and focus on discipline and accountability. We endorse these recommendations.

There is no reason to suppose that Kekere-Ekun is not conversant with the challenges bedeviling the Nigerian judiciary, including massive corruption. Only recently, we bemoaned Nigerian judges’ rating as the year 2023’s leading bribe takers based on a survey jointly conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). As we noted, the revelation that Nigerian judges stand as the primary recipients of bribes raises fundamental doubts about the integrity and efficacy of the Nigerian judiciary. Judges as the custodians of justice, we averred, are expected to embody impartiality and maintain a demeanour of dignified neutrality to adjudicate matters fairly. We have seen no reason to shelve our view that judicial corruption tarnishes the legitimacy of judgments, weakens the rule of law, and perpetuates a culture of impunity. Justice Kekere-Ekun must lead the charge for positive change.

At the moment, public trust in the judiciary is low, especially with the ugly spectre of conflicting judgments. Reversing this ugly trend is not down solely to Justice Kekere-Ekun, but she can play a critical role in the campaign. With the recent 300 percent pay rise approved for judges in the country, a familiar complaint has been addressed, and we hope that the new CJN will lead the campaign for, in her own words, “a better judiciary for the benefit of the entire nation.” The burden before her is definitely a huge one, but excuses ultimately amount to sheer injustice. Over to the Acting CJN.

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