NEW CJN TO TACKLE CASES OF CONFLICTING JUDGMENTS

The newly-appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, whose appointment was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, has blamed the bar and the bench for the frequent cases of conflicting judgments in the country.
The new CJN promised the senate that he would tackle the issue of conflicting court judgments.
Mohammed spoke while answering questions from senators shortly before his appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan was confirmed.
He said the personal interests of judges and lawyers in certain political cases had been behind the incidences of conflicting judgments.
He said, “Honestly these conflicting judgements are mostly common in political cases involving election tribunals where there are a lot of interests. Sometimes we ourselves are not helping matters. If I say we, I mean we, legal practitioners.
“The problem is with us. We have a case but we don’t want it to finish quickly. We maintain it on the case list. When the purpose of having it is to prosecute it successfully; if we know that we don’t have a good case, we don’t tell our clients the truth.
“The conflicting judgements coming from the tribunals and the Court of Appeal are as a result of lawyers, who, in fact, insist that the rules of review prevail and sometimes some of our judges also make mistakes as we are not also infallible. We could make mistakes.”
He, however, pledged to tackle the embarrassing phenomenon, especially when the President of the Court of Appeal had put measures in place to deal with some of the conflicting judgements so far recorded in the country.
“Some of these appeals terminate at the Court of Appeal, they don’t come to the Supreme Court to give the Supreme Court the opportunity to correct the situation,” Mohammed said.
Reacting to a question on his view concerning the clamour for the separation of the office of the Attorney – General from that of the Minister/Commissioner for Justice, Mohammed said he believed that the offices should be separated.
He said, “Regarding the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, whether it should be split or be allowed to remain as it is, honestly I have my own view because I was also an Attorney – General.
“In fact, I served two opposing governments but what it requires is honesty in the discharge of responsibilities regarding the role and how the machinery of government is run. The function of the Attorney-General is not a political office but it is an office that deals with a lot of responsibilities regarding the administration of justice generally.
“Now, the office of the Minister of Justice is purely political. You see, sometimes, political decisions have to be taken. It may not necessarily be in accordance with the law. That is what it is and we recognise that.
“To me I think there is the need, honestly, to separate the two offices so as to allow each to function in accordance with the dispensation of justice because to allow one person to exercise both powers will result in a lot of complaints.”
On the need to review the adherence to seniority in the appointment of the CJN, Mohammed said there was nothing wrong with the President appointing anybody from any part of the country to fill the position but that seniority do count in the legal profession.
He said, “Now, on the issue of whether seniority should be adhered to in appointing the Chief Justice of Nigeria. As far as the Constitution is concerned, there is nothing preventing the President of the country to appoint the Chief Justice of Nigeria from anywhere in the country, from any group of legal practitioners, that is what is in the Constitution.
“So, there is nothing to worry about that the appointment of CJN is always based on seniority. It is so because of the tradition that we inherited and also because seniority is part and parcel of the legal profession.
“That is what is happening regarding the office of the CJN because it is hierarchy of judicial officers in each court. In each court, seniority counts and that is what is peculiar to the legal profession and there is nothing wrong with that because we all struggle to be called to the bar first”.
Mohammed expressed disagreement with the calls for the creation of special courts to deal with certain cases involving corruption and constitutional issues.
He said the problem had to do with the human beings managing the courts and not the type of court saddled with specific responsibility.
Source: Punch