September 21, (THEWILL) – The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, has said the leaked internal memo, written by Justices of the Supreme Court to the former CJN, Mohammed Tanko, was an embarrassment to the Apex Court.
Justice Ariwoola disclosed this on Wednesday, in Abuja, while responding to questions from Senators during his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly.
THEWILL reported that the Senate on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Justice Ariwoola, as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Ariwoola replaced Justice Mohammed Tanko, who resigned his appointment on June 27, 2022, citing ill-health as the reason for his decision.
Recall that 14 justices of the Supreme Court, had in a leaked memo, accused the CJN of incompetence. They had complained about lack of residential accommodation and vehicles at the court.
The justices also accused the CJN of gallivanting with his “spouse, children and personal staff”, while denying them assistant on foreign trips, as well as legal research assistants, despite the magnitude of cases being adjudicated.
But on Wednesday, Justice Ariwoola said the Internal Memo written by the Supreme Court Justices was not a petition to or against Justice Mohammed Tanko, but a correspondence aimed at addressing challenges of welfare and the inconducive working environment faced by them.
“Justices of the Supreme Court didn’t write a petition to or against Justice Mohammed Tanko as CJN a few months back, but memo where issues relating to the welfare of each of the Justices and inconducive working environment of Justices at the Supreme Court generally were raised.
“We the Justices were embarrassed when we read the content of our memo in the papers .
“It was never intended to be for public consumption since the motive behind the memo was not to fight or bring down anybody.
“When the handwritten memo was signed by all the Justices, we didn’t allow anybody to see it, making its leakage to the media to be like a miracle to us”, he said.
He, however, regretted that most of the issues raised in the memo are still not attended to, linking the situation to lack of funds and poor funding of the Supreme Court in particular and Judiciary generally.
“Some of the Justices appointed in 2020, have not gotten official accommodation, making them to be coming to office from Satellite towns within the FCT.
“Judiciary of Nigeria must be properly funded, we should not beg for our entitlements .
“More Justices need to be appointed as out of 21 needed in the Supreme Court, only 13 are left and for expeditious consideration of cases, some of the cases should be allowed to stop at the Court of Appeal through constitution amendment to that effect.
“The National Assembly should please help in this regard by carrying out required constitution amendments needed”, he added.
While explaining the causes of delayed administration of Justice, the nation’s number three citizen pointed out that as Justice delayed is seen as Justice denied, so is Justice rushed, Justice denied.
According to him, the wheel of Justice may be slow, but as long as it is steady, Justice will always be served on those who deserved it.
He explained the process of appointing Judicial officers, insisting that it takes a lawyer to be at the bar for a minimum of ten years before securing the appointment as Judge of State or Federal High Court and a minimum of 15 years for such an appointment at the Court of Appeal.
The CJN also disclosed that contrary to fears expressed by some lawmakers, there was no crisis among Justices of the Supreme Court.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and few others, had in their remarks before asking questions, expressed worry on the embarrassment of alleged petitions written to Justice Mohammed Tanko by 15 other Justices of the Supreme Court in June this year, caused Nigerians.
