House Of Reps Blocks Plan To Appoint Children Of CJN, Others As Judges

The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution compelling the Nigerian judiciary to stop its ongoing shortlisting of 12 judges for vacant positions in the FCT High Court.

Several legislators supported the motion to correct what they term as favouritism and constitutional breach in the judiciary where children of both the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kayode Ariwoola, and that of the FCT CJ are allegedly nominated for appointment as judges.

Lawmaker Enwo Igariwey said on Tuesday, “This is a gross violation of the 1999 Constitution, which required staffing from the 36 states and the FCT,” while moving the motion to stay the recruitment titled “Urgent need to re-examine the list of proposed states to fill the 12 vacancies created to the disadvantage of others in the High Courts of FCT.”

Recall that legal expert, Chidi Odinkalu had observed in his latest column that the controversial appointments undermined the credibility of the justice system.

” Recruiting the children of judiciary leaders will lead to stunting the career movement of other magistrates from everyday families in at least four states.

” It was vague why Ariwoola and Baba-Yusuf prioritised their daughters as judges from Oyo and Kogi, which, individually, as of now had two judges on the FCT High Court, when Abia, Imo, Bayelsa and Ebonyi each has no single judge on the court and the Nigerian federal character policy codified in chapter two of the Constitution required staffing the 70-person bench impartially among citizens from the 36 states and the capital Abuja.

“Mr Baba-Yusuf has also acknowledged Munira Ibrahim Tanko, a junior magistrate and daughter of past Chief Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, as a candidate from Bauchi, a state that already has Babangida Hasan on the court,” Odinkalu was quoted as saying.

Mr Igariwey said at plenary that the fact that the underlying philosophy of the Federal Character Commission guideline is to provide equality of access in public service representations, control dominance by one or few sections of the nation, promote inclusiveness and national unity, violation of this principle of the Constitution may not only be destabilizing but might open the conduits to litigation.

In a voice vote led by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, the motion was overwhelmingly adopted
and subsequently referred to the House Committee on FCT Judiciary.

The Supreme Court and Mr Baba-Yusuf’s office both declined comments about how they would treat the House’s resolution.