The forecasts are most promising that Justice Aloma Mariam Muhktar will by 14 July this year become the 13th Chief Justice of Nigeria. That is the day when the current chief , Dahiru Musdapher, shall attain the age of 70 years and thereby “cease to hold office” as the Constitution commands. A succession order has come to be at the apex court since the days of Justice Muhammad Bello. The most senior member of the Supreme Court takes over from the preceding chief justice to perform the function. Again, this is at the behest of the Constitution.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances therefore, the elevation of Aloma Muhktar will make the perfect birthday gift four months before her 68th birthday on November 20, 2012. This final berth of a 45 year long cruise since her admission to the Nigerian Bar in 1967 has set tongues wagging all over. From the excitable Bar to the even-tempered Bench, the import of the first female chief justice of the federation is a matter of great social interest. The one person who may be least impressed by all the debate is the lady at the centre of the spotlight. She may rightly be miffed that once again, public attention and scrutiny is drawn to her body and not her brain.
Seven years earlier in 2005, the confirmation of her appointment to
the Supreme Court elicited widespread and impassioned commentary on a ceiling-shattering ‘ great leap forward’ for Nigerian womanhood. Some analysts wondered if her promotion would initiate a trend for more female justices of the Supreme Court. Their number has since grown to three with Olufunlola Adeyeye and Mary Odili joining to dilute the overly masculine flavour of the Court. Granted that gender equity may be just as politically significant as geo-political equity ("federal character"), there is nothing to show that gender inequities in the homes and workplaces have greatly diminished on account of the investigations, litigations, prosecutions and decisive judgements by women cops, lawyers, magistrates, judges and justices.
Justice Karibi-Whyte was on target therefore, when he famously dismissed the demand for a woman to take his place upon his imminent retirement, to correct the gender imbalance at the Supreme Court then. “So what if there is no female Supreme Court judge?” he had countered. “Why must there be? It is not a gender issue… Whether there is a man or a woman has nothing to do with the administration of justice. When a suitable female arrives, we will appoint." Moot was the question why the judiciary could not find “suitable” appointees from the vast pool of female judges, roughly 25% of the lot, to sit at the higher Bench?
This argument took place ten years ago in 2002. Looking back, Aloma Muhktar and all her learned sisters should have plenty reason to beat their chests and echo the world famous advert, Baby, you’ve come a long way…More importantly, can anyone deny that Aloma Muhktar is eminently “suitable” to be the prime jurist of the land?
The excitement generated by her admission to the all-male assembly of Supreme Court justices already mentioned, it is reasonable to expect that fireworks of commentaries will trail the emergence of Nigeria’s first woman chief justice in the weeks ahead. When Muhktar first joined the men at the apex court, Mary Odili, fast rising judicial officer and spouse of the Rivers State governor, paid tribute to her indomitable spirit in a “Testament of Hope” saluting the valiant struggle of women to gain respect in a male dominated world. Hope, nurtured by faith, brings forth the sweet fruit of success. In 2000, when she served in the Court of Appeal, Aloma Muhktar ranked third in seniority behind Dahiru Musdapher and the President of the Court of Appeal. Still, before she arrived there in 2005, Musdapher and four lower-ranking members of the Court of Appeal had taken their seats in the Supreme Court. Merit thus assumes a broad span of considerations which, for so long, did not appear to include gender parity.
When we hailed her ascent to the Supreme Court, were we not at once celebrating the triumph of good conscience over callous indifference and negligence? This time around, shall we not be toasting ourselves and the maturity of our judicial system? A wistful edge to our good cheer: her short tenure which should likely terminate in two years when she turns seventy. Rapid and mandatory baton change to keep faith with the law is a current feature of the office of the chief justice of Nigeria. Kutigi and Katsina-Alu spent roughly two years each at the top job. Dahiru Musdapher will serve for barely ten months as chief justice but that is only half the story. Turnover is high at the apex court in the land and few justices last further than five years on its revered corridors. Fewer still make it to the esteemed chair of chief justice.
On this count alone, Aloma Muhktar has had a good and exemplary run. Exhibiting what is seen in many circles as a staid conservative background, she is credited with expertise in formalist decision making rather than creative tinkering to extend the frontiers of the law. On the heels of her admittance to the Supreme Court, the media reported that her judgements at the Appeals Court were frequently endorsed by the Supreme Court. In one commentator’s opinion therefore, she appeared to be “faithful and competent rather than reform minded.” The analysts contended that she would not rock the boat of consensus decision making for which the Supreme Court is rather well known. Others wondered about the perceived influence of a woman on an exclusive body of men such as the justices of the Supreme Court.
Seven years afterwards, there is no telling the quantum of social and administrative changes that have been wrought by the admission of two more women with their peculiar needs and attitudes into the establishment. Even now, as Aloma Muhktar waits to lead her learned ‘brothers and sisters’ on the eternal struggle for the defence of justice and fair play, the analysts are many who believe that she is most unlikely to create any waves. Not a few also submit that she would not be to blame for this.
The Court, they contend, is probably the most reactionary institution in the land and is forever struggling to catch up with the rest of society. The justices are carefully chosen to fit the special mould of team players and consensus builders. Nevertheless, it must be taken for granted that Court and Country have a learning curve ahead with their first ever “Madam Chief Justice”.
In the past, the Supreme Court had been described as "essentially a court of criminal and land appeals" A wave of robust political cases and judgements have helped to alter that perception during the last five years. Attendant to that is the rising popularity of the judiciary, quite simply the Supreme Court, as a bastion of hope for the survival of democracy in Nigeria. Nonetheless, the work rate of the Court leaves much to be desired. Some observers have blamed it on the huge man hours the justices spend in writing individual judgements merely for the record even when they do not disagree with the lead judgement.
This was not always the case, legal historians assert. In its early days, the Supreme Court adopted the system of collegiate judgments practiced by its predecessor, the West African Court of Appeal, instead of the tradition of separate judgments by British appellate courts. Calls for the justices to showcase their erudition and provide individual insights and quotable references for the legal journals, snowballed into great pressure for a change at the Bar and on the Bench. In 1979, the Court resorted to the British model and with considerable cost in speed. Said an observer in 2005, “Unless the Court is reformed soonest, we sadly envisage that most of Justice Mukhtar's labours on the Supreme Court would be dissipated through unceasingly repeating precisely the same task someone else is also repeating.”
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A curious and unwholesome development is the media controversy that has trailed the appointment of a chief justice since Salihu Alfa Belgore stepped aside in 2007 for Idris Legbon Kutigi. Baton changes at the Court used to be such quiet events that most citizens barely acknowledged, or followed with the mildest interest. Suddenly, following the high-wire politics of post-election petitions, the media got interested and speculation mounted significantly about which justice would be most favourably disposed to which of the parties contending for leadership of the nation.
Public sentiment about the imagined political leanings of the justices, heightened with the dissenting positions of Justices George Oguntade, Aloma Muhktar and Walter Onnoghen in the celebrated election petitions of Atiku Abubakar and Muhammadu Buhari. Sadly, the media has not helped the public to understand and appreciate the salient peculiarities of the judicial process. Instead, it remains commonly obsessed with peddling salacious but unsubstantiated rumours about the public and private indiscretions of high placed judicial officers. Most guilty of this objectionable practice is a motley of internet media organs.
Justice Niki Tobi, while delivering his judgement on the already cited 2007 election petition, had this to say: “It is sad that so much has been said in the newspapers of this country on the case. The new technology of internet reporting has added to the comments, some of them doubting our integrity to do justice according to law. I regard them as blackmail and I will not succumb to blackmail.”
In like manner also, the local press has shown a bewildering inclination to feed their readers with titillating, but poorly substantiated news of the inner workings of the Court. In the days preceding his imminent resignation, the media pointedly accused Chief Justice Katsina-Alu of desiring to prolong his tenure and to thwart Dahiru Musdafer’s claim, on grounds of seniority, to the seat. His nomination of Aloma Muhktar as a second choice rang in their ears as subtle power play to undermine the suitability of his first choice. On Sunday October 23, 2011, a newspaper further “revealed” by quoting nameless sources that the outgoing chief had tried unsuccessfully to spread false stories of ill health about his successor.
As early as Boxing Day, 2011, the local press had begun to stoke the fires of a possible controversy over the appointment of Justice Aloma Mukhtar to the office of chief justice. The particular publication reported that she had been in danger of receiving the ‘Salami’ treatment: dubious promotion to eliminate the perceived threat of an opponent. Without any proof at all, the reporters accused the Presidency of complicity in the plot. The newspaper did not specify the “foreign appointment” offered which Aloma Muhktar had turned down. The reporters did not quote her nor did they indicate that they sought her opinion but did not get it. A “source close to the apex court’” was routinely credited with revelation of “an attempt to stop Mukhtar and possibly bring in Justice Walter Onnoghen, who is the second most senior JSC.”
Adjunct to these rumours was the kite flown by the current chief justice on expected judicial reforms. He had suggested to an audience at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies that appointments to the Supreme Court should be for a lifetime, as obtains in the United States. Chief Justice Musdapher has made no secret of his interest in judicial reforms to strengthen the independence of the judiciary. Yet, the conclusion of the reporters rested only on the fact that an expected constitutional amendment to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court justices from 70 to 75 years, “may make it difficult for Mukhtar to become the first female CJN by July 15, 2012 when Musdapher is expected to have attained mandatory retirement age of 70 years.”
Recalling the minority judgement already cited, in which Oguntade, Muhktar and Onnoghen, dismissed the 2007 elections as not meeting the requirements of the law, the reporters opined as follows: “fears that Muktar may be difficult to bend … might have informed the plots to stop her from becoming the CJN.” What informed the suggestion that Onnoghen would be easier to manipulate, these resourceful reporters did not say.
These stories underline the herculean challenges facing the Supreme Court which Justice Aloma Muhktar or any other chief justice, must contend with. The Court is bedevilled with a growing image problem. The recent brouhaha over the ‘promotion’ of Justice Ayo Salami to fill the South West slot in the Supreme Court and his subsequent rejection of the “unholy Greek gift” illustrates the point vividly. Even the elevation of Mary Odili to meet the “yearning and aspirations of women in Nigeria,” according to Chief Justice Katsina-Alu, “and the 35% affirmative action promised women by President Goodluck Jonathan,” may be grounds for serious controversy in the future.
The challenge of uplifting the morale of judicial officers and restoring public confidence in the Supreme Court is not peculiar to Nigeria. In Kenya, Nancy Baraza, the first woman appointed to the post of deputy chief justice, has swung into action to redeem the country’s judiciary from crippling corruption and inefficiency.
Baraza, a former executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and chairperson of the Kenyan Federation of Women Lawyers has a glowing track record of public service much like her Nigerian counterparts. At the time of these press reports in November 2011, Baraza disclosed that the Kenyan High Court had 2,015 pending criminal appeal cases, “some of which have not been heard for 20 years because files had gone missing.” There was a need to clear the backlog of over one million cases in the courts in the next six months, she declared. Seems like a distant cousin of the Nigerian judicial system, does it not?
"We shall implement radical but necessary reforms that are going to be able to bring effectiveness, fairness, eliminate corruption and instil discipline among (the judiciary’s) officers," Baraza told the International Press Service. The Supreme Court in Kenya is composed of Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, his deputy, Baraza, and five other judges. Their mandate is to spearhead the implementation of the country’s new constitution and to establish an independent judiciary. "Radical transfers of judicial officers may be on the way to break up entrenched cartels that are frustrating changes in the judiciary. There are some officials who may want the old order to continue. But we will push for the necessary reforms to make the judiciary meet the expectations of Kenyans. Those resisting changes will have to fall by the wayside," Baraza said.
Question: Can Aloma Muhktar or any other appointee to the office of chief justice make such daring promises to Nigerians?
Without pre-empting the recommendations of the Muhammad Uwais Judicial Reform Committee, it seems obvious that its reform agenda must include the creation of new courts in remote parts of the country and the rapid digitalisation of court processes and procedures. Electronic systems for the allocation of cases and dissemination of information on suits must be the standard- SMS and bulk e-mail being the most basic. Computer literacy programmes should be compulsory for senior judicial officers so that the Supreme Court may attain the high standards of a “paperless” Court in the shortest possible time.
Can Aloma Mariam Muhktar deliver on most or all of these? We certainly hope so. Because, if she does we would not be celebrating the token significance of a first woman chief justice but more far-reaching landmarks in the history of the judiciary. And it would not matter to anyone whether a woman oversaw the process or not, as it does not really matter to disputants in a case whether the judgement was delivered by a man or woman. The important issue is who won? Will the Supreme Court win over its myriad challenges? What will be Justice Aloma Mariam Muhktar’s role in this historical fight? That is the all-important poser.
She alone can provide the answer. But we shall be there-every progressive Nigerian, that is- to help her with our cheers and our good wishes.
Come July 15, the words of Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu at the swearing in ceremony of Justice Mary Odili may well apply to our most likely candidate for chief justice.
“It, therefore, behoves you to join hands with your brother justices of this court in order to continue to sustain the confidence of the general public and the judiciary. The code of conduct for judicial officers is there always to guide you. I have every confidence that you will not fail this court and nation. I urge you to strive hard to discharge your duties in accordance with the oath of office you have subscribed to, having the fear of Almighty God in your hearts and always following the dictates of your conscience.”
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