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Lagos Lawyer sues Buhari over delay in supreme court justices’ appointment

LAWRENCE Nnoli a Lagos-based lawyer has filed a lawsuit against President Muhammadu Buhari to compel him to appoint more Supreme Court Justices without further delay.



The suit filed before Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court in Lagos pointed out that Buhari’s failure to appoint more Supreme Court Justice was “a serious breach of Section 231(2) of the 1999 Constitution and poses a grave danger to the course of justice in Nigeria.

Following continuous retirement of supreme court justices without conforming replacement the number has reduced to 12 as against twenty-one (21) slots as provided by the Nigerian constitution while the number of cases going to the court from all over the country keeps increasing.




     

     

    Currently, there are 16 Justices of the Supreme court of Nigeria, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria. The Justices are often recommended by the National Judicial Council to the President , and they must be senior advocates, who will send the names to the Senate for confirmation.

    According to reports by PUNCH, the lawyer said the National Judicial Council had in October last year recommended four justices of the Court of Appeal identified as Adamu Jauro, Emmanuel Agim, C. Oseji and Helen Ogunwumiju to Buhari for appointment as Supreme Court Justices, but the President negated to forward their names to the National Assembly for onward consideration.

    Nnoli in the suit marked FHC/C/CS/897/2020 further stated that Buhari’s avoidance of his statutory duties and inaction “poses a grave risk to the peace and progress of Nigeria as citizens’ confidence in the Supreme Court towards dispensing justice in a timely manner may be eroded owing to the insufficient number of Justices of the Supreme Court available.”

    The defendants in the lawsuit are Buhari, the National Judicial Council, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, and the Senate President of Nigeria.

    The date for a hearing is yet to be fixed by the court.

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