JUDICIAL ACTIVISM: TRIBUTE TO FORMER CJN IDRIS LEGBO KUTIGI

Kutigi CJN: His Role Model, Lord Denning

Hon. Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, CJN saw Lord Denning as his role model. Lord Denning was of the Lincoln’s Inn, and the Chief Justice of Nigeria was also of Lincolns Inn. Kutigi said he was inspired by the dissenting judgements of Lord Denning at the Court of Appeal, which were always upheld at the House of Lords. The Late Former Chief Justice of Nigeria recalled with excitement, the way Lord Denning preferred to move down from the House of Lords back to the Court of Appeal, in order to enjoy the freedom of giving dissenting judgements, so that the House of Lords could make pronouncements on them. It is a historical fact that, most of the dissenting judgements of Lord Denning at the Court of Appeal, were upheld at the House of Lords, and they proved the basis of so many landmark judgements in our legal literature, in the Common wealth law jurisprudence.

A thorough bred public servant and astute Judge, his professional life revolved around service to the Nation, through the law. Idris Legbo Kutigi served in all the professional strata of the Ministry of Justice, and adjudicated at several superior courts of records in Nigeria, namely the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Upon his retirement, Kutigi was the Chairman of the National Constitutional Conference, convoked by the Administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The Kutigi Report, provides an answer to the vexed question of the restructuring of Nigeria.

God called His Lordship home on Sunday, 21st October, 2018 at a London Hospital, after a brief illness.

Goodnight Great Jurist. Adieu, Father of Judicial Activism.