The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has charged the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, to rebuild the fast eroding public confidence in the Judiciary.
President Muhammadu Buhari had yesterday administered the oath of office on Justice Ariwoola following the resignation of Justice Tanko Muhammad from office as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) on health grounds.
Justice Muhammad was said to have resigned on Sunday, but the news of his resignation became public yesterday morning.
New Telegraph reports that the former CJN, who was billed to declare a workshop organised for Judges opened at the National Judicial Institute (NJI) on Monday, was absent and not represented.
A retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Suleiman Galadima, was present at the occasion. The call by the NBA was contained in a statement issued yesterday by its President, Olumide Akpata.
The statement reads: “The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has received the news of the resignation, on grounds of ill-health, of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Honourable Dr. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad (CFR).
“We thank His Lordship for his lengthy service to the nation, and wish him quick recovery even as we pray for a well-deserved peaceful retirement.
In the course of previous publications and communications, I have consistently appreciated the outgone Chief Justice of Nigeria for the cordial working relationship between the Bar and the Bench under our respective administrations.
I must do so again today as he bows out. “It is, however, impossible, to consider His Lordship’s retirement in isolation of the recent unprecedented developments at the Supreme Court where 14 Justices of the Court censored the outgone Chief Justice of Nigeria over His Lordship’s handling of their welfare and related issues. Beyond this, there is near universal agreement that public confidence in the judiciary and indeed the legal profession is at an all-time low.
“The NBA welcomes the appointment of Honourable Mr. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola and pledges its readiness to work together with His Lordship and the Judiciary in cleansing the Aegean stable and addressing the ills that have continued to plague not just the Judiciary but the entire legal profession.”
In a related department, two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), Chief Mike Ahamba and Adekunle Ojo, have called on the Acting CJN to chart a new course for the nation’s judiciary. The lawyers spoke yesterday while baring their minds on the recent developments at the Supreme Court and swearing-in of Justice Ariwoola as Acting CJN by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking on the issue, Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN) said the Acting CJN should hit the ground running because he has a big task of correcting the wrongs in the nation’s judiciary. Ahamba said: “We are all embarrassed by the turn of events at the Supreme Court because the place is too hollow to be faced with this type of situation. I want to thank the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, for the much he has done. But, his era has not been that encouraging.”
On his part, a former Vice- President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Adekunle Ojo (SAN), also asked the Acting CJN to continue the struggle for a better judiciary Justice Ariwoola was born on August 22, 1954 and he is currently the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court.
He was formerly a Justice of the Court of Appeal and was elevated to the Supreme Court Bench after having been elevated from the State High Court of Oyo State.
Ariwoola started his educational career in his home town Iseyin at the Local Authority Demonstration School, Oluwole, in the Iseyin Local Government of Oyo State between 1959 and 1967. Before his elevation to the Supreme Court, Ariwoola served as Justice of the Court of Appeal in Kaduna, Enugu, and Lagos Divisions.
He has attended many International and National conferences and workshops in France, Atlanta Georgia, UK and Dubai, UAE, and he is happily married with children The resignation of Justice Tanko Muhammad at the age of 68 years came about 18 months ahead of his official retirement in December 2023, when he will clock 70 years.
Muhammad had claimed to resign on health ground, although his health condition compelling him to resign is not known. His resignation is, however, coming amid a raging crisis in the Supreme Court following allegations by his 14 colleagues on the Supreme Court bench that he is hampering the operations of the court by failing to fund judges’ welfare as well as fuel generators, among other essential services.
A leaked memo by the 14 Justices of the Supreme Court protesting Justice Muhammad’s handling of the operations of the court surfaced online last week. Justice Muhammad is the second CJN in a row to abruptly exit office since 2020. His predecessor, Justice Walter Onnoghen, also resigned in a controversial circumstance, after he was suspended by President Buhari in January 2019. He was subsequently convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over charges of breach of codes of conduct for public officers in April 2019.
Meanwhile, a source at the Apex Court who pleaded for anonymity has said that Justice Muhammad’s resignation was a soft landing for him to cover up the corruption allegation levelled against him by his fellow Justices of the court.
“I can tell you categorically that no one saw this coming before now, as there is no sign of the CJN resigning before now, until the allegation of corruption raised against him by the other 14 Justices of the court.
“His resignation at a time like this is nothing but a soft landing for him. This is because the issue of the accusation levelled against him was very heavy as the 14 Justices who wrote the petitions are insisting that he should be probed.
“All efforts to resolve the issue without leaking to the public proved abortive as the concerned Justices are not ready to back out without getting to the root of the matter.
“His resignation will at least douse the tension which is already rising in the nation’s Judiciary,” the source said.
