Senate confirms Musdapher as CJN

Posted by admin Judiciary, Latest Politics, Legislature, Senate Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

THE Senate, on Wednesday, confirmed the appointment of Justice Dahiru Musdapher as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). Musdapher was recommended by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to replace Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, who retired as Chief Justice of Nigeria on August 28.
Also confirmed was Mr Darius Dickson Ishaku as the minister representing Taraba State.

During the question and answer session, Musdapher said the “National Judicial Council (NJC) must be repositioned and the laws governing it be reviewed to ensure better judiciary.”

The CJN, who was grilled for more than one hour, indicted state governors in the alleged ineffectiveness of the judiciary, urging the lawmakers to intervene and rescue the judiciary from the wrong perception of Nigerians.

On the independence of the judiciary, he answered that “By and large, the judiciary is independent in this country. Probably here and there, you may find some odd things going on, but, by and large, we would try to do the best that we can. But the problem has to do with our state governments in relation to section 121 (3) of the constitution dealing with the statutory that is given to the state; it is often not transmitted to the heart of the courts in the states.

“Sometimes there are problems in the state of getting their due share of what has been granted them by the state governments. We are talking with government to, please, comply with the constitutional provision and give the judiciary its dues.”

He admitted that the public is not satisfied with what was going on within the judiciary, noting that the problem could not be divorced from the society in which judges lived.

According to him, “the important thing people talk about is the electoral matters. People always want to win any case before the panel, because of obvious political reasons but, by and large, the problem is not all that bad. It is the perception of people, who lost elections, but one has to lose and another wins. Unfortunately, in this country, anyone who loses feels there is an influence somewhere but if anyone has any evidence of anything that was done wrongly by any judge, the judicial council will take action on that.”

He, however, refused to say anything on the suspension of Justice Ayo Salami, saying it was not appropriate for him to offer any explanation or answer anything on a matter that was before the court of law.

On the issue of capital punishment, he said that it was for serious crime and was operated in most countries of the world. He blamed some of the delays in accessing court judgment on the numerous petitions that judges had to work on.

According to him: “The truth of the matter is that there should be limitations to the number of appeals coming to the Supreme Court. The cases are there; we sit every day, hear about 20 to 30 cases weekly. The amount of work done is too much. That is why it is urgent that the constitution is amended to reduce the number of petitions coming to the Supreme Court.”

On the power to appoint the Chief Justice, he said the constitution conferred power on the president to do so, saying, “he can pick and choose anybody that qualifies, but NJC procedures have to be followed before the appointment can come true. Sometimes, the president can appoint, but sometimes, he can bring it to the Senate for confirmation.”

Ishaku, the ministerial nominee from Taraba State, spoke on urban planning, high cost of building and how the issue could be tackled to ensure that an average Nigerian owns a house, especially in urban areas.

He blamed the disparity between Abuja city and its suburbs on non-implementation of the master plan but supported the Land Use Act on the grounds that it would afford government easy access to lands for developmental projects. He allayed fears that bureaucracy on the part of government could hamper individuals’ demand for land.

-Tribunewp_posts