A non-profit, non-governmental organization, Access to Justice, has expressed displeasure over President Buhari selection decisions on judges appointment.
A2Justice noted that the decision lack transparency, disrespects Judiciary and threaten Judicial Independence.
In a statement made available to newsmen, by the Convener, Joseph Otteh, the organization emphasised that Cherry-Picking persons to appoint to judicial office undermines judicial independence and raises questions of misuse of power.
In March 2020, the National Judicial Council, NJC, had nominated thirty-three persons for appointment as judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
Four month after, the Nigerian Senate read out President Buhari’s request for the confirmation of the appointment of eleven judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory following a letter written to that effect.
These Controversies have birthed several litigations on the subject. When the President chooses and picks the names he will appoint from a list submitted by the NJC, this raises important concerns of judicial independence, particularly when there is no explanation forthcoming as to what criteria informed the reason why some names from the list were appointed and others were not.
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“Those concerns arise because of the huge potential for misusing the power to make appointments. That power can be used to blackmail, to coerce, extort, or obtain a quid pro quo from the Judiciary, or may otherwise be used illicitly, in a manner that ultimately undermines the independence of the Judiciary.
“It’s important to point out that the Presidency had not gone on record to raise any objections to the list since it was submitted to it in March 2020.
“This is not to say there were no grounds for reproving the recruitment process leading to the submission of the list.
“But if the President was not satisfied with the composition of the list, or the process leading to it, he had a duty, to be transparent about his objections to the list, and to publicly state them.
“This is hinged on the notion that the Judiciary is indeed independent when it comes to conducting it’s own affairs If this were not so, the President could permit improper motives to govern the choices he makes on judicial appointments and be wholly unaccountable over his decisions.
“The President’s appointment of a downsized number of Judges for the FCT High Court against a much larger list, and the absence of information justifying the selective appointments, blatantly disrespects the Judiciary, given the manner it was done, and the impression it creates is that the Executive controls the Judiciary even regarding matters pertaining to the affairs and organization of the Judiciary”.
Access to Justice urges President Buhari to immediately furnish reasonable and transparent reasons for not appointing all the persons nominated by the NJC to him for appointment into the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
