The Supreme Court of Nigeria sitting in Abuja is yet to fix a date for judgment over the suit of compulsory retirement of Justice Gladys Olotu of the Federal High Court, filed against the National Judicial Council.
Until recently, the NJC failed to file its Notice of Appeal six months after the Court of Appeal voided the compulsory retirement of Justice Olotu, which led to the delay in the Supreme Court giving judgment on the matter.
The matter before the Court is sequel to the NJC’s bid to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision invalidating Justice Olotu’s compulsory retirement from the Federal High Court, Abuja.
However, the Supreme Court will in the coming days consider whether “iustitiam morari iniustitia est (to delay justice is injustice) and Qui iustitiam moratur iustitiam negat (he who delays justice denies justice) are relevant to the current state of proceedings in the suit between the NJC as Appellant/applicant and Justice Gladys K. Olotu, President Of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria, Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.”
Justice Olotu was appointed a Judge of the Federal High Court on July 28, 2000 and resumed the Bench on September 1, 2000. The NJC recommended her compulsory retirement on February 27, 2014, which then President Goodluck Jonathan approved.
Aggrieved at the decision, Justice Olotu sued the NJC at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja. The NICN, on September 20, 2017, upheld the NJC’s decision.
Dissatisfied, the Judge approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja for redress.On February 25, 2022 voided Justice Olotu’s compulsory retirement and, in a unanimous judgment, a three-member panel of the court, led by Justice Peter Ige, held among others, that the process leading to Justice Olotu’s removal was flawed.
Justice Danlami Senchi, who read the lead judgment, held that since the Federal Judicial Service Commission did not recommend that Justice Olotu be compulsorily retired, the recommendation made by the NJC to the President in that regard was unlawful, null and void.
Justice Senchi noted that since the FJSC is constitutionally empowered to recommend lawyers for appointment as Federal Judges, its recommendation is also necessary before such a judge could be relieved of his or her appointment.
He proceeded to hold that without the FJSC first recommending a judge for removal, such recommendation by the NJC (as it is in the case of Justice Olotu) and the subsequent acceptance of the recommendation by the President is a nullity.
The Appeal Court thus set aside the earlier judgment by Justice E. N. Agbakoba of the NICN which upheld Justice Olutu’s compulsory retirement.
