From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
A legal luminary, Chief Yomi Alliyu, SAN, has said the new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, has an enormous task ahead of him to reposition the judiciary in the country, especially the Supreme Court.
He made the disclosure in his congratulatory message to Ariwoola, which was made available to journalists in Ibadan, Oyo State on Monday, saying: “I wish my Lord a successful tenure, free from rancour and blackmail.”
One of the first steps that the new CJN must take, according to Alliyu, is to bring to an end, what he described as over-populating the Supreme Court with judges that did not have experience at the Court of Appeal but rose from magistrate courts to the apex court.
His words: “For the second time in half a decade, we have Justices from the private bar becoming Chief Justices of Nigeria. The last been My Lord Justice Walter Onnoghen.
“For many years from the time of My Lord Justice Mariam Mukhtar, Justice Kayode Ariwoola, popularly called ‘Ariwoooo’ by the Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, has been the powerhouse of the Supreme Court in terms of following the principle of ‘stare decisis’ to letter and sound principles of law for the good of the society.
“He led the Supreme Court, and in fact wrote the leading judgment; in dismantling the hitherto finality of the judgment of the National Industrial Court, surreptitiously put in the Constitution by the erstwhile powerful president of that court.
“My Lord Justice Ariwoola is expected to bring to an end overpopulating the Supreme Court with judges who never had appellate practise but rather rose from magistrate courts, thereby leading to public service judgments.
“The first task before him is to bring experienced private practice practitioners to the Supreme Court bench to allow for cross-fertilisation of ideas and anti-establishment judgments as done in the time of Justices Elias, Eso, Oputa and Nnamani of the golden age of the Supreme Court!
“Also, from his years of practice in both the public and private bars, my Lord is expected to look closely at the operations of the apex court with a view to bringing it in tandem with the modern-day apex court as obtainable in other climes.
“There is no reason why cases should spend close to eight to 15 years before being heard. I have a land matter, which briefs have been filed since 2008, still pending at the Supreme Court! In that wise, the rules of the court must change! Briefs should be enough to decide appeals.
“Afterall 95 per cent of the appeals are argued within five minutes of identifying the briefs by simply saying, ‘I adopt and rely on my brief!’ Cases going to Supreme Court can also be limited to those without concurrent findings by the High Court and Court of Appeal.
“Justices of the Courts could also be divided into divisions like commercial, land, constitutional, labour, criminal and human rights with five justices, manning each of the divisions. This will necessitate the appointment of justices and conversion of some offices, which are utterly under utilised into courts if new courts cannot be built on the large expanse of land left undeveloped for years at the Court.”