The Chief Justice of Nigeria, (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola on Wednesday revealed that leaking the internal memo written by Justices of the Supreme to Justice Mohammed Tanko, former CJN was an embarrassment to the Apex Court.
The new CJN,who said this in Abuja while responding to questions posed by Senators at his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly,revealed that the Internal Memo written by the Supreme Court Justices was not a petition to or against Justice Mohammed Tanko, but a correspondence aimed at addressing challenges of welfare and unconducive working environment faced by them.
“Justices of the Supreme Court didn’t write petition to or against Justice Mohammed Tanko as CJN few months back but memo where issues relating to welfare of each of the Justices and unconducive working environment of Justices at the Supreme Court generally were raised.
“We the Justices were embarrassed when we read content of our memo in the papers . It was never intended to be for public consumption since the motive behind the memo was not to fight or bring down anybody.When the hand written memo was signed by all the Justices, we didn’t allow anybody to see it, making its leakage to the media to be like a miracle to us”, he said.
He regretted that most of the issues raised in the memo are still not attended to, linking the situation to lack of fund and poor funding of the Supreme Court in particular and Judiciary generally.
“Some of the Justices appointed in 2020 , have not gotten official accommodation , making them to be coming to office from Satellite towns within the FCT.Judiciary of Nigeria must be properly funded, we should not beg for our entitlements.More Justices need to be appointed as out of 21 needed in the Supreme Court, only 13 are left and for expeditious consideration of cases , some of the cases should be allowed to stop at the Court of Appeal through constitution amendment to that effect.
Explaining the causes of delayed administration of Justice, the nation’s number three citizen pointed out that as Justice delayed is seen as Justice denied, so is Justice rushed, Justice denied.
According to him, the wheel of Justice may be slow but as long as it is steady, Justice will always be served on those who deserved it.
He explained the process of appointing Judicial officers, insisting that it takes a lawyer to be at the bar for a minimum of ten years before securing appointment as Judge of State or Federal High Court and minimum of 15 years for such appointment at the Court of Appeal.
The CJN also disclosed that contrary to fears expressed by some lawmakers, there was no crisis among Justices of the Supreme Court.