Barring any last minute change of decision, a list of eight candidates to be recommended by the National Judicial Council, NJC, to fill available vacancies on the Supreme Court bench, will hit the table of President Muhammadu Buhari in the next two or three weeks.
A top judicial officer and strong member of the NJC who preferred anonymity told Vanguard’s Law and Human Rights on Tuesday that the Council is wrapping up the process to enable President Buhari seek the assent of the senate required for his appointment of the top judicial officers before he quits office on May 29, this year.
Vanguard reliably learnt that the NJC got the hint that President Buhari is willing to hand over a Supreme Court with full complement to his successor.
This, according to the source, is aside the fact that the court is not only evidently overstressed following its increasing workload and the depletion of its workforce but also because the exercise was long overdue having commenced almost two years ago.
The court presently has 13 serving justices.
The source said it is more compelling to fill the slots because two of the 13 serving justices—Justice Musa Datijo Muhammad and Justice Amina Adamu Augie, would be retiring from the apex bench before the end of the year, a situation that would leave only 10 justices in the court.
The serving 13 justices of the apex bench are Justices Olukayode Ariwoola, Musa Datijo Muhammad, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Chima Centus Nweze, Amina Augie, Uwani Musa Abba Aji, John Inyang Okoro, Lawal Garba, Helen M. Ogunwumiju, I.N. M. Saulawa, Adamu Jauro, Tijjani Abubakar and Emmanuel A. Agim.
The Justice Ariwoola-led Supreme Court
Of the 13 serving justices, three are from the North West, three are from the North-East, one from the North Central, one from the South East, three from the South West and two are from the South-South.
The demography of the top judicial officers showed that while two of them are due to retire during the year, one in 2024, two in 2026, one in 2027, three in 2028, two in 2029, another two will retire in 2030.
The details of justices of the court are captured below:
1.Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, South West, August 22, 1954 -August 22, 2024
2. Justice Amina Augie, North West, September 3, 1953-September 3, 2023
3.Justice Musa Muhammad, North Central, October 27, 1953-October 27, 2023
4. Justice Uwani Aji, North East, November 7, 1956-November 7, 2026
5. Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, South West, May 7, 1958-May 7,2028
6. Justice Chima Nweze (PhD), South East, September 25, 1958-September 25, 2028
7.Justice John Okoro, South South, July 11, 1959- July 11, 2029
8. Justice Lawal Garba, North West, November 11, 1958-November 11,2028
9. Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, South West, March 23, 1957-March 23, 2027
10.Justice I.N. Salauwa, North West, September 29, 1956-September 29, 2026
11.Justice Adamu Jauro, North East,June 26, 1959-June 26, 2029
12. Justice Tijani Abubakar, North East, April 15, 1960-April 15, 2030
13. Justice Emmanuel Agim,South South,April 26, 1960 -April 26, 2030
The composition of the Supreme Court at any time is governed by constitutional and other statutory provisions.
According to Dr Mojeed Alabi, the Supreme Court was to consist of the Chief Justice, two Federal Judges or such greater number as might be prescribed by the Federal legislature and such number of acting Federal Judges as might be appointed under section 139 (3) of the 1954 Constitutionat the inception in 1954.
“Under the 1960 Constitution, the composition of the Supreme Court was slightly modified as the constitution provided for a Chief Justice of the Federation and not less than three justices.
“The 1963 Constitution also modified the composition to include a Chief Justice of the Federation and not less than five justices even though the Supreme Court Act of 1960 provided that number of Supreme Court justices shall be nine.
“Two Acts of the Federal Parliament passed in 1964 increased the minimum to eight. It was however raised to ten in 1977 and twelve in 1979.“Under the 1979 Constitution, the maximum number of justices was increased to 15 excluding the CJN,” he added.
But with the promulgation of Decree 24, which heralded the 1999 Constitution, the membership of the Supreme Court was increased to a maximum of 21 justices excluding the CJN while section 231(3) of the 1999 Constitution provides that “ a person shall not be qualified to hold the office of Chief Justice of Nigeria or of a Justice of the Supreme Court, unless he is qualified to practice as a legal practitioner in Nigeria and has been so qualified for a period of not less than fifteen years.”
Notwithstanding the constitutional provision, the highest number of justices appointed to the Supreme Court was 17 all through the tenure of Justice Muhammad Lawal Uwais (1995-2006) and the first quarter of 2020 during the tenure of the immediate past Chief Justice Tanko Muhammad (2019-2022).
However, most times, the number of justices on the Supreme Court oscillated between 11 and 14 while all through the 1995 and 2022 legal years, no lawyer in private practice or academia was appointed to the Supreme Court as it used to be in the past.
But for the first time in the history of the court, the number of justices appointed to the Supreme Court bench hit a record high 21 in the first quarter of 2020 legal year under Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, but death, retirement and resignation depleted the figure to 13 justices as at today.