The National Judicial Council (NJC) will meet this week on happenings in the Judiciary, particularly the imminent exit of Justice Olukayode Ariwoola as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Justice Ariwoola is billed to formally vacate office on August 22 upon attaining a retirement age of 70 years. He became CJN on October 12, 2022.
The Supreme Court has already scheduled a valedictory court session in his honour.
It is mandatory according to an NJC Source that the NJC meets and decides on who to recommend to the President as acting CJN pending the appointment of a substantive one.
Going by Sub-section 4 of Section 231 of the the1999 Constitution the baton will fall on Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun (nee Fasinro) who is currently, the second most senior Justice of the apex court
The sub-section states that: “If the office of Chief Justice of Nigeria is vacant or if the person holding the office is for any reason unable to perform the functions of the office, then until a person has been appointed to and has assumed the functions of that office, or until the person holding has resumed those functions, the President shall appoint the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court to perform those functions.”
Sub-section 1 of the same section also provides that : “The appointment of a person to the office of Chief Justice of Nigeria shall be made by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council subject to confirmation of such appointment by the Senate.”
The NJC source explained that the meeting next week, ‘’the NJC will formally write to inform the President of the impending retirement of the CJN(Ariwoola) and the name of the most senior Justice of the apex court, recommended for appointment in acting capacity.”
If eventually appointed in a substantive capacity, the 66-year-old Justice Kekere-Ekun, from Lagos State, will vacate office in 2028.
She will become Nigeria’s second female CJN, the first being Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar who served between July 2012 and November 2014.
Justice Kekere-Ekun was born on May 7, 1958, in Britain.
In 1980, she received a bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Lagos and was admitted to the Nigeria Bar on 10 July 1981, having graduated from the Nigerian Law School. She thereafter proceeded to the London School of Economics where she received a Master’s degree in Law in November 1983.
She engaged in private practice from 1985 to 1989 when she was appointed a Senior Magistrate Grade II in the Lagos State Judiciary in December 1989.
Justice Kekere-Ekun was later appointed a judge of the High Court of Lagos State on July 19, 1996. She served as Chairman of the Robbery and Firearms Tribunal, Zone II, Ikeja, Lagos from November 1996 to May 1999.
She was subsequently elevated to the Court of Appeal on September 22, 2004 where she served in various divisions of the court.
Justice Kekere-Ekun was elevated to the Supreme as the 5th female Justice of the Court and was sworn in on July 8, 2013.
