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Chief Robert Clarke (SAN)
Elder statesman and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Robert Clarke, has said President Bola Tinubu’s swearing-in of Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria is constitutional and legal.
Tinubu, on August 23, swore in Kekere-Ekun as the 23rd CJN at the Council Chamber of the State House, pending her confirmation by the Senate.
She succeeded Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who assumed office on June 27, 2022, and bowed out last Thursday upon attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.
In an interview with Arise News on Saturday, Clarke said Tinubu was right to swear in Kekere-Ekun as the acting CJN without being screened by the Senate, adding that the action was not infringing the constitution.
Clark further explained that the Constitution did not specify the time for confirmation of the acting Chief Justice, adding that her swearing-in is illegal.
He said, “What you are suggesting now is that what people are saying- that they should have asked her to wait until the Supreme Court confirms before she was being administered under oath to take over the post. If that did not happen, she would still be acting as the most senior judge on the bench. She will still be acting as the acting Chief Justice of the Federation. All these are semantics, as far as I’m concerned.
“There is no impediment to any constitutional provisions that say a CJ cannot be sworn in by the president. After all, the president is the appointing- under the constitution, the president is the appointing officer. The Senate is only to confirm or reject, and if they reject, it will still take another term. She will be brought back. So, I don’t see any fundamental infringement of the Constitution.
“The constitution did not say the period of time the Senate President will confirm what had been done by the President. So, if the President appoints someone who has the right under the law to do so, the confirmation can come two months or three months [later]. So, there’s nothing wrong with that. It has nothing to do with the appointment.
“If the Senate is not ready to confirm, then it will give reasons, and those reasons will be looked into. But its duty is only to confirm. So, that’s why I said it’s semantics. It doesn’t touch any legality or illegality.”
The senior lawyer also praised Kekere-Ekun’s good character and honesty in the judiciary, saying that she would bring reforms to the Supreme Court.
He said, “Justice Kekere-Ekun is somebody I have known from the day she was sworn in as a judge in the Lagos State judiciary. Actually, I remembered that when she was to be appointed, there was a problem with the Bar Association. Many thought the appointment was not proper.
“And I remember the former CJ of Lagos State, Ligali Ayorinde, had to call me and ask me for my opinion on that appointment. What I told him, and I’m repeating here, is that whether you’re a chief magistrate or a senior magistrate or an ordinary lawyer, the qualification for appointment as a judge of the High Court in Nigeria under the constitution is that you must have been called to the bar for at least ten years.
“So, I told the CJ that if you are sure this woman has been registered in the Supreme Court register as having been called to the bar and meets the qualification of 10 years, then don’t have anything to be afraid of. I made my enquiries then about her because I was not running the magistrate court then, so I didn’t have first-hand information about her character.
“But I can assure you that 90% of those people who I had talked to then confirmed that she is one of the most distinguished magistrates who will not take what you call charge and bail bribes- I’m sorry to use the word bribe. Whether her presence in the Supreme Court is going to make any drastic change is what I can assure you, but I cannot guarantee that the Supreme Court will change from what it is usually.
“But one thing I’m sure of is that she’s very, very keen on sweeping off all the bad eggs in the Supreme Court. If you claim there are no bad eggs in the Supreme Court, I, Robert Clark, can tell you there were many of them there, and I passed through many of them, and I can point to any of them.”
“She’s a stickler for honesty, and I have seen her grow in the judiciary. I can speak of an experience of over 50 years in the judiciary, and I can tell you I have not seen any other character like Kekere-Ekun on the bench. I pray God, in his infinite mercy, will give her more courage, and I can assure you she will do her best.”
The senior lawyer also dismissed the talks of gender inequality within the judiciary as relating to CJN appointments.
He said, “That does not exist, let me be honest with you, because the appointment of a CJ of the Federation is based on seniority in the Supreme Court hierarchy. So, whether you’re a man or a woman, if you by any circumstance find yourself in that situation when there is a vacancy, gender does not matter. It only goes to show that the percentage of Nigerian judges today in the Supreme Court is made up of men rather than women.”
