TASK BEFORE CHIEF JUSTICE KUDIRAT KEKERE-EKUN
The Nigerian judiciary has a new sheriff in town, and she is Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the second female Chief Justice of Nigeria, and the first from the Southwest, who was recently sworn in to replace Kayode Ariwoola who retired amidst muted scandals. As with all her recent predecessors, the new CJN has talked tough about fighting corruption in the judiciary, improving justice delivery and not tolerating disobedience to court orders. But as she must already be finding out, the institution she is tasked with leading appears beyond redemption.
Nigeria’s triumphant return to democracy in 1999 was not a product of judicial intervention. Rather, it was the military, that was forced by local and international pressure, to vomit the country it had swallowed.
However, as with every country that practices constitutional democracy, it was always recognized and accepted that an independent and impartial judiciary, serving as an umpire between the different arms of government, and between the government and Nigerians, was indispensable to a country with development aspirations.
An impartial and independent judiciary was recognized as especially important in a country like Nigeria with its long history of bitter and bloody disputes. The Nigerian judiciary has since been called to step up to the plate.
There have been many luminous moments of invaluable judicial interventions when chastened government lawyers returned from court rooms empty-handed with their tails between their legs as the judiciary truly lived up to its reputation as the last hope of the common man.
But those fleeting moments have remained few and far between. These days the widely held view among Nigerians is that the judiciary has become an institution where court judgments are auctioned to the highest bidder.
This widely held and shared view, seemingly confirmed by a glut of extremely curious judicial decisions incalculably damaging to the image of the judiciary.
Because justice is rooted in confidence, the loss of confidence in the judiciary is, in fact, the most catastrophic consequence of Nigeria’s dysfunction.
It is this charged and charred institution that Kekere-Ekun has been tasked with leading. How will she fare?
As only Nigeria’s second female CJN, her appointment is a triumph for gender equality in an institution that has historically been male-dominated. The appointment is also some guerdon for a judge with no known case of misconduct or judicial impropriety who has put in many arduous years and unstinting hard work to reach the zenith of her career.
But in an institution where appointments appear to be based on filial and familial relations rather merit, the battle may just be too steep for Kekere-Ekun.
Furthermore, the fact that many judges having witnessed from a vantage point the demise of Nigeria, and are prepared to sell court judgments to secure the future of their families means that corruption in the judiciary has come to stay.
All things being equal, Kekere-Ekun will also be in the saddle when the 2027 general elections come around with the inevitable litigation that will stem from them. Will she be able to guide the judiciary to redeem itself before Nigerians who are still traumatized by the fact that INEC’ s disastrous outing in the 2023 general elections received several judicial imprimaturs, or will she watch on, cocooned in judicial privilege, while Nigerians are again sold short in INEC offices and courtrooms across the country?
Chances are high that Kekere-Ekun’s time as Chief Justice will be just as pedestrian and insipid as the tenures of many of her predecessors.
To make any difference, she must be ready to confront the vested interests in the judiciary embodied by those judges who surreptitiously and systematically sabotage the course of justice for filthy lucre.
While Nigerians undoubtedly wish her well, she must be under no illusions immediate or remote that she is kicking off her tenure from a position of considerable disadvantage in a country where citizens believe that the judiciary has become the lost hope of the common man.
Ike Willie-Nwobu,
