A call has been extended to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), and Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, to cancel the 2022 judicial appointment exercise in Abia State and an outright rejection of the list of candidates for judicial appointment in the State for being the outcome of the process that was conducted in substantial breach of the applicable National Judicial Council (NJC) Guidelines for Judicial Appointment.
The demand emerged from a Lagos-based rights organisation, Access to Justice, through a statement signed by its Senior Programme Officer, Chinelo Chinweze, on Saturday.
Access to Justice had in 2021 made a similar petition, after information emerged, alleging that the judicial selection process embarked upon by the Abia State Judicial Service Commission (JSC) was marred by corruption and that a Chief Magistrate slumped and died over reports that her name was not included in the final list of candidates submitted to the NJC after she had borrowed funds to pay bribes for that purpose. The Abia State JSC subsequently cancelled the judicial selection exercise.
According to Access to Justice, “After the cancellation of the exercise, the Abia State JSC chaired by the Chief Judge of Abia State subsequently began another round of the recruitment exercise. From the information available to Access to Justice and its inquiries, the 2022 recruitment process is likely just as flawed and tainted and has breached the NJC’s Guidelines on the appointment of judges.
“A2Justice’s petition to the CJN alleges that the Abia State JSC has used crooked tactics to manipulate the outcomes of the judicial selection exercise in the State. Our petition claims that the shortlist of candidates that the Abia State JSC sent to the NJC was contrived, being different from the shortlist of candidates presented to stakeholders in the course of the judicial selection process, and which the Abia State JSC used as the basis for inviting the input of those stakeholders – specifically the Abia State Branches of the Nigerian Bar Association.
“The impression given is that the Abia State JSC deliberately presented a shortlist of candidates that did not include the names of some candidates (in order to avoid objections and controversies) to the NBA (and possibly serving and retired Judges), and then, afterwards, stealthily doctored the shortlist by placing additional names on it before sending the final list to the NJC.
“A2Justice believes this form of “Shortlist engineering” and scheming is unbefitting for a judicial institution and completely unacceptable for use in procedures leading to the judicial office since the tactics illicitly circumvent and undermine procedural safeguards instated by the NJC towards ensuring that candidates selected for judicial office are not unfit for such office. Manipulating lists of candidates for judicial office could be used to smuggle in candidates who are unfit for judicial office through the backdoor.
“A2Justice has, as it indicated in its letter to the CJN, ‘…received information that the list of recommended candidates submitted to the NJC by the Abia JSC does, in fact, include person(s) who have falsified their ages, as well as those who have been implicated in financial malpractices during the time they held certain positions.’
“A2Justice petition further alleges that there was, during the selection exercise, no neutral, independent or reliable assessment of the merits of candidates who indicated an interest in the judicial positions and that no Tests or Examinations were conducted for the candidates before they were shortlisted.
“In the circumstances, A2Justice has urged the NJC to cancel the 2022 Judicial Selection exercise undertaken by the Abia State JSC, and to investigate the attempt to mislead or deceive the NJC regarding the composition of the list of recommended candidates sent to the Council, and to hold any person who is found liable accountable for misconduct.”
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