NBA canvasses independence in appointing Judges, Magistrates

Mr Adeyemi Adewunmi, Chairman, Nigeria Bar Association, (NBA) Ekiti State Branch, has said that it was wrong for the executive arm, to be the appointing authority for judges and magistrates.

Adewunmi made this disclosure on Monday in Ado-Ekiti, at the commencement of the Law Week, 2022.

He said that the practice had been undermining the independence of the Judiciary because; “He who pays the piper dictates the tune.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of this year’s Law Week is: “Judicial Independence, a Recipe for True Democracy in Nigeria”.

Adewumi said that the essence of the theme for the law week was to chart the way forward on ways and means to ensure true Judicial independence.

The NBA Chairman, who painted a grim picture of the conditions of judges, lamented that magistrates in the state used personal cars because they were not provided official vehicles.

“If you see the official cars of some judges, you will pity them.

“We had seen a situation here in Ekiti State where NJC recommended Judges for appointment and the executive stopped it and it took the coming of another government and NBA’s intervention to get it done.

“We don’t have records of total financial autonomy for Ekiti judiciary.

“What we are saying is that money belonging to the Judiciary be given to them like the Executive organ. If they want to buy a pen, they will run to the executive. This has to stop.

“Judicial independence means that judges and magistrates must be free to exercise their judicial powers without fear, favour.

”In addition to being free from interference by litigants, and state, which doubles as its appointing authority, media or other powerful individuals or institutions, including multinational and high net worth companies.

“For the judiciary to be truly independent, it is considered that judges must be free to discharge their responsibilities, not minding whose ox was gored.

“Or pandering to the sentimental dictates of their statutory appointers, as judges are appointed by the executive, subject to recommendations of the National Judicial Council (NJC).

“In a country like Nigeria, which is presently characterised by economic underdevelopment.

”It is generally considered constitutionally desirable, that institutional separation of judiciary from other arms of government is a necessary bulwark against all forms of political and social tyranny, victimisation and oppression,“ he said.

He further disclosed that the branch intended to join forces with stakeholders to free the judiciary from enslavement.

“We can, during this conference, send a memo to the National Assembly to rework our constitution to give the NJC more powers in the appointment of our judges.

“The Judiciary will never be functional and independent as long as the executive ratifies their appointments and releases funds for their operations.

“We have heard from Chief Judges of states saying that the allocation they got from governments couldn’t pay the salaries of judges, let alone putting up infrastructures.

“Why should we have an environment like that? We will continue to have problems with this situation, “he said. (NAN)