First Nigerian Female Chief Justice | Aloma Mariam Mukhtar

With the formal swearing in of Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar as the Chief Justice of Nigeria yesterday by President Goodluck Jonathan, the processes for her selection as the first female to occupy the revered position is completed.

Now, what is expected of her is to set in motion the machinery for restoring the lost glory of the judiciary which she has been a part of since 1967.
To say the least, the task before the new Chief Justice is daunting because right now the image of the judiciary is that of a corrupt arbitrator. The judiciary Justice Mukhtar is presiding over now cannot, in all honesty, be described as the last hope of the common man. It is buffeted on all sides by corruption, shoddiness, laziness and lack of accountability.
We are glad that the new Chief Justice is not unaware of these problems, and considering her testimony before the Senate during her confirmation, then there is hope for an awakening in the judiciary.
During her appearance before the Senate, Justice Mukhtar admitted frankly that corruption has permeated not only the judiciary, but also all segments of the society. She promised to fight the cankerworm by carrying out an internal cleansing to shore up the image of the third arm of government. According to her, “corruption is in every system of our society and I cannot pretend that it is not in the judiciary.”
The new Chief Justice also promised to live by example and expressed hope that other judges will follow suit.
We congratulate Justice Mukhtar on her new assignment and wish her success but we make haste to advise that she has to move fast to stem the slide of judiciary into ignominy.
It is our opinion that Justice Mukhtar will have to do more than living by example in the present murky state of the judiciary by quickly weeding out suspected corrupt judges in order to restore confidence of the people in the temple of justice.
Judges known to have soiled their hands with filthy lucre while deciding cases should be shown the way out. These corrupt judges should not be allowed to remain in the judiciary for a day longer. Their exit will serve as a deterrent to others who may want to toe the same line.
Secondly, Justice Mukhtar must do something urgent about the long time taken in deciding cases in our courts. It is a well known fact that cases that should not have taken more than six months at most are allowed to drag on for more than five years before judgments are given due to numerous adjournments.
The new Chief Justice should work out an internal mechanism towards enlightening judges on the need not to delay cases before them. Frivolous adjournment requests by lawyers should be rejected. Cases should be speedily decided because as they say, justice delayed is justice denied. She should equally address the criminal justice system which is very pathetic.
We also implore Justice Mukhtar to look into the frivolous granting of ex-parte injunctions by judges. The manner injunctions are granted by judges when the real case is before the court, leaves much to be desired. Judges should be told to exercise utmost restraint in granting injunctions in cases filed before them.
The new Chief Justice will also be assessed by the tact she employs in handling the issue of the suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami. Justice Salami has been asked to return to his office by the National Judicial Council, NJC, but the executive arm has prevented this decision from being implemented. Justice Mukhtar should assert her powers by restoring Salami to his position as quickly as possible.