Access to Justice :: Journals

Introduction

Did Enugu State Governor, Chimaroke Nnamani merely just deftly wriggle past the National Judicial Council (NJC) in instating his controversial but preferred candidate, Hon. Justice Innocent Umezuluike as Chief Judge of Enugu State in December 2004? Or was it more the case that the NJC offered too little in the way of institutional strength, showed too little institutional resolve, and stood up only too little, to make a difference in the implacable run by a political strategist to have a trusted person in the office of Chief Judge? Acting in concert with the Enugu Legislative Assembly, Governor Chimaroke Nnamani has shown just how a little deft thinking can make a mockery of roles the Constitution has reserved for different branches. His victim - the National Judicial Council. And in reducing the NJC to the role of an inconsequential factor, he had a willing ally, and that ally is the National Judicial Council.

Stalking the Chance: A Confirm Takes a First Shot

Hon Justice J.C.N. Ugwu, described in an authorized biography as an “elephant” on the bench was due to retire on December 13, 2004; prior to this time, the State Judicial Service Commission (State JSC) had forwarded to the NJC, the names of three possible candidates to the office of Chief Judge. They were Hon. Justice Raphel Agbo, Hon. Justice Innocent Umezuluike, the present Chief Judge and Hon. Justice Nebo. In forwarding the names, the State JSC made it clear that its preference was for Hon. Justice Innocent Umezuluike.

At that time, the NJC thought differently. After its meeting on the 23rd of September 2004, the NJC wrote back to the State JSC, saying that Hon. Justice Raphael Agbo, being next in order of seniority was eligible to be appointed CJ, and proceeded to recommend Justice Agbo. In what is widely believed to be a compliance gimmick, the Enugu State government sent the name of Justice Raphael Agbo to the State legislature for confirmation under section 271 of the Constitution. And that was the red herring. The State House of Assembly reportedly sat, and rejected Hon. Justice Agbo as Chief Judge nominee. No reason was adduced for doing so; all the house reportedly told the Governor was that he should “forward the name of a more suitable person for consideration for the position of the Chief Judge of the State”. There was nothing, as far as we can tell, that was before the House of Assembly against Hon. Justice Agbo as a person.

Arm-Twisted, the NJC Faces Daunting Choices

Brandishing the Assembly's no-pass ticket, the Governor next approached the NJC asking that Hon. Justice Umeluzuluike be recommended for Chief Judge. Before the NJC would sit on the 8th and 9th of December 2004, quite a bit of news had been making the rounds in Enugu State. After the NJC's sitting, people struggled to string together what could have gone wrong, beyond what the appearance was.

Depending on whose insights you seek, the theories are different. The buzz around Enugu town indeed, as our investigations unraveled, was that the Enugu Governor had successfully lobbied the NJC members; well, the language used was a bit more insidious. People in Enugu went as far as talking about deals and exchanges between the Governor and some NJC members: in fact, this fear is shared too by some very eminent people from the Enugu region.

Public speculation about what took place in the NJC during its December 2004 meeting was informed by two developments: first, Enugu State Governor, even before the NJC meeting of December 8th & 9th 2004, reportedly said that not appointing Hon. Justice Agbo Chief Judge was a “foregone conclusion”. Many were simply overwhelmed when that prophecy came to pass. The second factor was the ease with which the NJC's capitulation occurred. Not a few people thought that the NJC did not exhaust all the options open to resolving the matter before acquiescing to “defeat”.

For Enugu Governor, H.E. Chimaroke Nnamani, the grouse against Justice Agbo was that he was guilty of neither supporting the executive nor the legislature. The Governor reportedly said that he believed all arms of government were the same and there was no need for the independence of one arm.

People wondered at how the governor could talk so self-assuredly about the fate of Justice Agbo in the face of an NJC endorsement, and at a time when there was, as yet, at least publicly, no objective clue that the NJC would change its position, and no substantial threat to its earlier decision on Justice Agbo.

The Governor's views were reported in a prominent daily newspaper, so the NJC must have seen the handwriting as clearly as possible, if it hadn't before then. To accentuate these fears, there were strong speculations within Enugu State that the Governor and the erstwhile Chief Judge, Justice Ugwu spent an extended period of time in Abuja before the NJC's critical meeting of December 8th & 9th to negotiate a desired outcome of the meeting. So when the NJC took the startling decision to recommend Justice Umezuluike, it was, for some people, a dry run: a confirmation that their fears were real, and that the governor's threats were objective enough.

Some prominent people who got wind of what was going on during the period leading to the meeting of the NJC made frantic representations to the NJC. In a letter dated 14th Sept. 2004, 3 prominent Senior Advocates of Nigeria in Enugu State, Chief A.O. Mogboh, Chief Ofodile Okafor, and Chief M.E. Ajogwu, wrote the Chief Justice of Nigeria and told the NJC Chairperson that they were “compelled by the circumstances which arose recently at the Enugu State Judiciary to make this protest.” They maintained that there was no “legal or acceptable reason why the principle [of seniority] …should not be followed on who succeeds the present retiring Chief Judge …except where the most senior is shown to be unfit, and/or patently found to be wanting in character and learning.” Such a situation, they stated, “has not been shown to exist, and does not in fact exist”.

In a passionate letter to the NJC Chairperson too, Emeritus Justice of the Supreme Court Anthony Aniagolu, wrote that it was “terrible” that the Governor was trying to engineer the appointment of Hon. Justice Umezuluike, and implored the NJC to “stand firmly by its decision for the support of the Constitution of Nigeria.” He warned that the “National Judicial Council will waver on this issue to the peril of the Judiciary of Nigeria.”.

“The concepts of independence and accountability of a Judiciary, within a democracy actually reinforce each other. Judicial independence relates to the institution – independence is not designed to benefit an individual judge, or even the judiciary as a body. It is designed to protect the people” (Transparency International Source Book 2000: 60)

“If there's one part of the federal government that ought to be insulated from lobbying, the Judiciary is it” – Washington post, 28 July 2000