Justice Mabel Segun-Bello, an FCT Federal High Court judge, has said that a strong presidential or political party support is important for anyone to become a judge in Nigeria. Despite this abnormality, she said, her own appointment done in 2022 was made on merit. However, she once worked for the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Lateef Fagbemi before she became a judge herself.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Fagbemi, Nigeria’s Attorney General under President Bola Tinubu, had been an APC legal representative as far back as 2015.
Statutorily, appointments of federal or state judges flow from the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to a governor or the president, who would then transmit the names of the nominated persons to the legislature for confirmation.
On Saturday, Segun-Bello, delivering a keynote speech at the 2024 Clarity Conference in Abuja, themed “The Constellation: Gathering of Stars, By Stars and for Stars”, spoke of the rough patch a judge-aspirant would have to go through before getting appointed.
“You may come from a poverty-stricken background. That is a powerful condition, but you must have the will to rise above it,” Segun-Bello, who was once a lawyer in the law firm of Nigeria’s current Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi, said.
”If I tell you where I come from, two things will happen: you will either think I’m lying or start crying. And remember, I’m not just a state judge; I’m a federal judge.
“To become a federal judge, you need the backing of the presidency or support from a political party. I had neither. This goes to show that principles, when applied universally, can make anything possible.”
The level of interference and abuse of process involved in the nomination of judges in Nigeria rarely becomes public knowledge, but Segun-Bello’s insider information is a strong confirmation of the corruption in the system that has eroded public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary and to perform their role fairly.
The NJC, under the leadership of Kayode Ariwoola, the outgoing Chief Justice of Nigeria, has recently come under intense criticism over the appointment of some judicial officers.
Ariwoola is set to bow out of office as CJN on Thursday. In his capacity as chairman of the NJC, he successfully appointed Olukayode Ariwoola Jr. and Ariwoola Oluwakemi Victoria, both his son and daughter-in-law, as judges.
There were other, considered nepotistic, to his credit.
In the same pattern, the CJN nominated, wife of the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, to the bench of the Court of Appeal. Justice Nyesom-Wike’s nomination may be finalised by the National Assembly soon.
