*Justice delivery suffers setback as lawyers express divergent views
About 12 days after Justice Salisu Garba, the Chief Judge of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court resigned his appointment to assume the position of Administrator of the National Judicial Institute (NJI), the Federal Government is yet to appoint a new CJ for the FCT High Court.
This is just as some lawyers in the temple of justice have expressed divergent views over the development.
The lawyers also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to act fast in order to enable quick dispensation of justice in FCT high courts.
TheIdeal recalls that Justice Garba had on August 2, 2021 voluntarily retired from his prestigious position of the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court and became the Administrator of the NJI.
A statement from the Media aide to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Mr Ahuraka Isah, also disclosed that the Board of Governors of the NJI under the chairmanship of the CJN, Justice Ibrahim Muhammad, had at a meeting held on July 15, appointed Justice Garba to head the Institute.
But the decision of the NJI board came barely 57 days after Justice Garba was sworn in as substantive CJ of the FCT High Court by the CJN.
Meanwhile, some senior lawyers have expressed divergent views over the strange development.
While some lawyers expressed concerns on the grounds that a vacuum will be created in the court, others argued that there is no vacuum in the true sense of the word.
A Constitutional Lawyer & Human Rights activist, Chief Nkereuwem Akpan, told Theideal during a telephone interview that there was nothing to worry about as he argued that there is no ‘vacuum’ in the true sense of the word.
He said, ‘’ There is actually nothing to worry about as there is no ‘vacuum’ in the true sense of the word because our judiciary is one of the few institutions whose foundation is cast in a well-oiled superstructure that is always rolling to the extent that the next most senior judicial officer automatically steps in and performs that role until the NJC steps in to formalize the recruitment or appoint an acting CJ for the FCT or recommend a successor to the President for appointment as substantive CJ for the FCT High Court.”
But Barr Uche Amulu has expressed contrary view, arguing that the present development is capable of having negative effect on the smooth running of Abuja High Court.
He said, ‘’This is not a good development as it will immediately stall judicial activities at least by half.
“No cases filed will be assigned, no pending ones will be reassigned as the situation warrants and no one else can rightly in the eyes of the law perform other ceremonial and supervisory functions in the FCT.
‘’Impunity may fester for a while and we may have a mini semblance of the strike period in the FCT judiciary. We are hopeful that something will be done about the situation very soon’’.
