The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Muhammad, has revealed that there was intense pressure to appoint Supreme Court justices from the Bar.
Speaking at this year’s edition of the annual conference of the Justices of the Court of Appeal held in Abuja recently, Muhammad said the old tradition of not taking anyone from outside the bench would subsist.
He argued that those campaigning for the appointment of judges to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court from the Bar were oblivious of the inherent danger in such move.
“I wouldn’t want to say much on the process of selecting Justices from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. But one thing on which I am positively assuring you, although there is a lot of pressure, is that we will retain the old regime.
“Those of us who passed through the Court of Appeal spent a number of years in the Court of Appeal, and we had a lot of experience and created a lot of relationship in the Court of Appeal. We will feel slighted if we are made to take anybody straight from outside.
“I don’t know. There is a lot of calls, a lot of insistence that we should take a look at the process we currently use in appointment to the Supreme Court and that we should not concentrate on the Court of Appeal alone. I say no.
“But, maybe it is because I am biased; because I am a son of the Court of Appeal, and I know the number of years that I spent in the Court of Appeal. And I know the experiences I gathered in the Court of Appeal. I know the number of Justices that I met and made friends with in the Court of Appeal, and we still telephone each other till today,” Mohammad said.
Although he said his position was not meant to insult practicing lawyers, Muhammad however maintained that it would be an act of injustice against career judges and Justices who have committed years to the Bench and have no other options, like practising lawyers have.
“This is somebody who has followed through the line. For example, myself, I started as a Magistrate Grade II. Going down the ladder, I wouldn’t want the authority to forget those of us who have been around.
“You grew up from the magistracy, rising through the ranks, and then they say we are not taking candidates for the Supreme Court from the Court of Appeal; we are taking from among the practising lawyer.
“We are not denigrating the practising lawyers. That is why I said let’s call a spade a spade.
“A practising lawyer may have a lot of openings. Tell me: what are your openings? What is the way forward for you? Please, let’s put our heads together. Don’t entertain that kind of thing.
“As far as I am concerned, the Supreme Court is the last stage. Anyone of us who grew up with the system and has continued to grow, why stagnate him? We know that not everyone of us will get to the Supreme Court. That is destiny.
“If somebody is brought from outside, it will take time to train such a person to fit in. I am with the old regime that we should train those who are already on the line.
“If you want to be a judge, you should join at the High Court; most of them do not want to join at the High Court. That is the best place for you to start.
“I don’t think it will be the right thing to appoint somebody straight to the Court of Appeal, because you have to train and teach him/her,” he added.
