Senate confirms Justice Mahmud Mohammed as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN)

by James Sambo

Justice Mahmud Mohammed has been confirmed by the Senate to replace Justice Aloma Muhktar as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

President Goodluck Jonathan had earlier written to the Nigerian upper legislative house requesting Mohammed’s approval.

Mohammed answered several questions from the Senators bothering on the conflicting judgements emanating from the courts, the Supreme Court nomenclature, welfare of judges and the structure of the judiciary as operated in Nigeria.

While responding on the present structure of the judiciary, Mohammed said the country does not need special courts or constitutional courts to administer fair justice.

According to him: “I do not support the call for special courts; the challenge of the country’s judicial System is mainly personnel and not the court structure.

“Nigeria has one of the best judicial structures in the world but still requires the right quality of personnel to provide fair adjudication.

“The structure of our court as presently constituted cannot be said to be responsible for the backlogs of cases across the country but rather should be hinged on prosecutors.”

“There should be no reason why a case should stay in court for more than three months,” he asserted.

On whether the country should adopt a constitutional court, instead of the current Supreme Court used for the apex court, Mohammed said the status of the courts was the same.

“It is a matter of nomenclature; the constitutional court is used in countries colonized by the French while countries that were under the British use the supreme court.

“They have equal jurisdiction,” he said.

Mohammed further explained that “the country’s Supreme Court has so far been exemplary and there may be no need to alter the name now.

The eminent jurist also made his opinions known about the conflicting decisions from the courts.

He said, “I accept that there has been a number of conflicting rulings and judgements by judges. These are made possible as a result of interests. Some lawyers and judges are responsible for this and it must be dealt with,” he said.

On why the country had appointed older Justices of the court as CJN, Mohammed said, however, that the constitution did not compel the President to appoint only older justices.

According to him, “The legal profession is hierarchical and therefore maintains seniorities in both the bench and the bar.”

“The wisdom, knowledge and maturity required to head the apex court are acquired through a long professional journey and before long you have become old,” he said.

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