AGENDA FOR JUSTICE OPEYEMI OKE

‘Kunle Uthman charges the Chief Judge of Lagos State to improve on the delivery and administration of justice

On September 24, 2017, the former Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Funmilayo Atilade retired from the Bench, having attained the mandatory retirement age of 65 years. She has since been replaced by Hon. Justice Opeyemi Oke who has been sworn in as Acting Chief Judge of Lagos State. The latter has a tenure of 21 months to serve. How did the last chief judge fare and what was her relationship with the system including the executive and the legislative arms of government? In respect of the new chief judge, what checks and balances should be put in place to ensure a peaceful, rancour-free tenure that would enhance and improve justice delivery system in Lagos State?

Justice Atilade’s tenure as chief judge was abysmally poor and full of rancour among judicial officers in the state. Within the period of her tenure she consistently went on overseas trips, trips totally unrelated with her work. Her relationship with the executive arm of government was “frosty” and there was very little infrastructural development in the courts to enhance the justice delivery system, unlike during the tenure of her predecessors in office. No landmark judgments were delivered by her to ingratiate her tenure in the legal jurisprudence of Lagos State. For the first time in recent memory, the New Legal Year Programme commencing with worship in Mosques and Churches were not held this year and a Valedictory Service she organised for herself at taxpayers expense was hurriedly cancelled.

Honorable Justice Opeyemi Oke, the acting chief judge of Lagos State, is an indigene of Ogun State. She was appointed a Judge of the High Court of Lagos State on July 19, 1996 and until her recent appointment, was the de facto Deputy Chief Judge in charge of Lagos division of the Lagos State Judiciary. She will be in acting capacity as chief judge pending her confirmation by the National Judicial Council (NJC). She would be the 16th chief judge of Lagos State and the 6th female chief judge, the last four (including herself) being females.

It is the hope and expectation of many that she would do the needful to improve the justice delivery and administration in the state. That she will attend to welfare matters of the magistrates and judges in the state, complete and commission court buildings, maintain a cordial relationship and complement the work of the executive and legislative arms of government, avoid the pitfalls of dabbling into money matters by allowing the chief registrar to perform her role as the chief accounting officer of the judiciary, consistently organise trainings, workshop, seminars for judicial officers locally and internationally to improve their knowledge and equip them with the skill for better service delivery. It would be most appropriate for her to set a “vision” from the beginning of her tenure.

All Judges in the several courts everywhere should heed the admonition and advise explicitly stated in the “Academic Journal Of Interdisciplinary Studies” as follows: “A Judge should be God-Fearing, law abiding, abstemious, truthful in tongue, wise in opinion, cautious, forebearing, blameless and untouched by greed”. A judge should be incorruptible and avoid undue fraternity with politicians and the political leaders, in order to ensure impartiality in the administration of justice.

The chief judge of a state is primus inter pares among the judges of the state and also the head of the judicial arm of government. The position is usually occupied by the most senior judge in hierarchy as a convention and practice, which is rarely deviated from except in most exceptional and extraordinary circumstances that shows that the most senior judge is not capable of performing the onerous responsibilities of that office. It is, therefore, easy to project succession based on seniority and dates of retirement.

This conventional norm also has numerous advantages and disadvantages because it has embedded therein some rivalry, competition and preparation for succession and a “turn-by-turn mentality”, which promotes unnecessary competition. However, the State Judicial Service Commissions are required to forward the names of two nominees to the National Judicial Council (NJC) for consideration to the Office of Chief Judge of a State, after scrutiny and interviews. Therefore, the bulk of the responsibility to ascertain the suitability or otherwise of a person as chief judge is with the State Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to ensure that ‘fit and proper’ persons are recommended for consideration, irrespective of seniority, and where the most senior is a person that lacks integrity and the qualities of the exalted office, he should be skipped in preference for the next person.

In the recent past, it has become crystal clear that seniority ought not to be the sole parameter for the appointment of the chief judge of a state and that other parameters, should necessarily be considered in determining the suitability of proposed persons to occupy that exalted office.

The other considerations should include, but not limited to the following: What is the performance of the judge whose name is to be recommended as a judicial officer? What is his / her relationship with other judges, magistrates and other judicial officers? What is the opinion of the Bar, the Bar Association and lawyers of the proposed nominee? What is the quality of judgments delivered and conduct of proceedings in his / her court? Does the nominee have a reputation for honesty, decorum and possesses impeccable character and integrity to serve as chief judge of the state and would the nominee undermine the office of chief registrar, who by law and convention is the chief accounting officer of the judiciary? Lastly, is the nominee a God-fearing individual, who is not corrupt and incorruptible and will not condone corruption in the administration of justice during his / her tenure?

If the answers to most of the questions above are in the negative, it may be necessary, albeit obligatory to skip the most senior, and not recommend that person and consider the next best judge that is infallible and honest and who will necessarily improve the justice delivery system, give quality judgments and not spend the bulk of his / her time awarding contracts to friends, family and cronies and do little or nothing to enhance justice delivery system in the state.

It is also condemnable that the chief judge upon resumption will remove and replace key officers in order to ensure that his / her surrogates are appointed or deployed, with the intention that such persons will do his / her bidding and protect his / her interest. This is not in consonance with Civil Service Rules and Regulations and promotes unnecessary rivalry among the administrative staff of the judicial arm of government.

In the last 10 years, Lagos State has had four different chief judges each of whom had a different vision for the state judiciary. This resulted in lack of cohesive visionary continuity for the system, rivalries and lack of good policy thrust, which ought not to be pivoted on the individual incumbent but the justice delivery system at large. The tenures of most of these chief judges were short and one chief judge in the state spent less than one year. Chief Uthman is a Lagos-based Legal Practitioner

A JUDGE SHOULD BE GOD-FEARING, LAW ABIDING, ABSTEMIOUS, TRUTHFUL IN TONGUE, WISE IN OPINION, CAUTIOUS, FOREBEARING, BLAMELESS AND UNTOUCHED BY GREED