Conflicting Court Orders as Judiciary’s Albatross  

Conflicting orders from courts of coordinate jurisdiction have become an embarrassment in Nigeria, particularly in cases involving politically- exposed persons. Wale Igbintade writes that the National Judicial Council should take serious actions to stem the tide beyond just barring the judges involved in this shameful act from elevation to higher court

Nigerian courts can be predicted. When Justice Mohammed Liman of a Federal High Court in Kano penultimate Thursday granted an ex-parte order stopping Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf from reinstating Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II pending the determination of a substantive suit filed against the reinstatement, many Nigerians knew that the order would not be the only court order in the case.

 Their prediction became a reality when on the same dispute, Justice Amina Adamu Aliyu of a Kano High Court, as a counter order, later directed Aminu Ado Bayero to cease parading himself as the 15th Emir of Kano and also directed the police to evict him from the mini palace at the State Road.

Trouble started penultimate Friday when Governor Abba Yusuf reinstated Sanusi as the sole Emir of Kano following the implementation of a new law.  Sanusi was dethroned in March 2020 and replaced by Aminu Ado-Bayero under the administration of former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.

The new law, which came into effect the previous day, being Thursday, dissolved the four other emirate councils of Gaya, Karaye, Rano, and Bichi created by Ganduje, and merged them into a single Kano emirate.

Consequently, the governor dethroned the emirs of the four disbanded emirates and restored Sanusi as the sole Emir of Kano.

This development led to a series of conflicting and counter court orders favouring different parties in the dispute over the Kano Emir throne.

On the day of Sanusi’s reappointment, the Federal High Court in Kano restrained the Kano State government from implementing the new emirate law. Governor Yusuf, however, rejected the court order, citing that the judge who issued it was in the United States at the time.

Also, last Monday, the Kano State High Court ordered the police to evict Ado Bayero from the mini palace in Nasarawa, where he has been residing since his dethronement.

But in a counter order on Tuesday, Justice S. Amobeda of the Federal High Court directed the police to evict the reinstated Sanusi from the Emir’s Palace in Kofar Kudu.

Also, on Tuesday, Justice Amina Aliyu of the Kano State High Court restrained the police, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Nigerian military from evicting  Sanusi from his palace.

The conflicting orders have created confusion and heightened tension in the state, providing the state government and security agencies with excuses to selectively enforce the orders based on their preferences between the warring parties.

So embarrassing did the situation become that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, as the chairperson of the National Judicial Council (NJC), the body statutorily empowered to discipline erring judges, had to intervene by summoning the chief judges of both the Kano State High Court and the Federal High Court over the conflicting court orders of the judges under them.

According to a statement by the Director of Information of NJC, Soji Oye, Justice Ariwoola summoned  Justices John Tsoho, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, and Dije Aboki, Chief Judge of Kano State High Court, to an emergency meeting scheduled to hold on Thursday this week. He added that the CJN’s summons issued to the judges was to prepare the ground for a full scale probe.

“The meeting, a prelude to a comprehensive investigation by the NJC, aims to provide the Chief Justice of Nigeria with a thorough briefing on this troubling development,” the statement read.

It added that there “is strong indication that the National Judicial Council will conduct an emergency meeting next week where the judges are likely to be invited and subjected to serious investigations.”

Conflicting court orders from courts of coordinate jurisdiction are rampant in Nigeria, particularly in cases involving politically exposed persons. In December 2021, the NJC, then chaired by the CJN at the time, Justice Tanko Muhammad, barred three judges from elevation to higher court for issuing conflicting court orders in a political case.

The affected judges were Okogbule Gbasam of the High Court of Rivers State; Nusirat Umar of the High Court of Kebbi State and Edem Kooffreh of the High Court of Cross River State.

Last month, the NJC also barred two judges from elevation to the Court of Appeal, although not because they issued conflicting court orders. The sanction was meted out to Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court and Godwin Brikins-Okolosi of the Delta State High Court for different infractions.

Legal experts believe that one of the best ways to stem the tide of conflicting orders from courts of coordinate jurisdiction, is ensure that the NJC take serious actions against the judges involved beyond just barring them from elevation to higher court to serve as deterrence

This is why the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) described the conduct of judges and lawyers involved in the issuance of the conflicting court orders with regard to the Kano emirate crisis as disgraceful, and called for a probe.

It called for punitive actions against lawyers and judges involved in the issuance of conflicting orders, saying that the actions of the lawyers and judges have brought utter disgrace and shame to the profession and have exposed the entire legal profession in Nigeria to public ridicule and opprobrium.

In a statement issued by its NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), the association vowed to drag any lawyer found culpable in the matter before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for deserved appropriate sanctions.

The NBA urged the Chief Judges of the Federal High Court and his counterpart in the High Court of Kano State to identify the judicial officers involved and drag them before the NJC for disciplinary action.

“I have keenly followed the developments on the recent events concerning the stool of the Emir of Kano. I must say, without any equivocation, that the conducts of counsel and the Courts in the handling of the proceedings which culminated in the orders issued by the Federal and State High Courts, in circus, have brought utter disgrace and shame to the profession – have exposed the entire legal profession in Nigeria to public ridicule and opprobrium.

“The damage is one that would take the legal profession a long time to recover from. It is unfortunate and was totally uncalled for. For a country whose legal resources and expertise have for several decades been exported and positively impacted not only the African continent but the world at large, it is completely unacceptable that the processes of our courts would be deployed in the manner we have witnessed in the last couple of days, on a subject matter that is as clear as chieftaincy dispute.

“This is a subject that has been sufficiently dealt with by legislation and case law, leaving no one confused about the jurisprudence on the subject – both procedural and substantive.

“Without prejudice to the subsisting actions before both the Federal High Court and the Kano State High Court, it is my considered view that there is urgent need to scrutinize the professional conduct of both Counsel and the Judges involved in these matters. This is to enable the relevant bodies or institutions to determine their culpability or otherwise, from an ethical and professional standpoint.

“I therefore call on the respective heads of the courts of the judges concerned, to take immediate steps to look into their conduct with the view to finding any possible abuse of their judicial offices and file a report with the National Judicial Council for necessary action.

“The NBA on the other hand will investigate the conduct of the counsel involved in these cases and shall not hesitate to commence disciplinary action against them before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, should there be any finding of alleged professional misconduct against them.

“The Chairman of the NBA Ethics and Disciplinary Committee has accordingly been directed to invite these counsel for preliminary investigations,” Maikyau added.

For now, Nigerians are waiting to see the resolutions of the NJC and the sanctions that would be meted out if any.