More supreme courts will harm justice system – SAN

A legal luminary in Niger State, Barrister Mohammed Kudu Ndayako (SAN), has raised concerns over the proposal by the House of Representatives for the establishment of Supreme Courts across the country, noting that it would have a negative effect on the nation’s justice system.

Barrister Ndayako expressed his worries while speaking to journalists in his office on Okada Road in Minna, over the weekend.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria had observed that the country’s justice system does not require the establishment of divisions of any Apex Court for now.

According to Barrister Ndayako (SAN), “The members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly should be more concerned about restricting certain cases that should not ordinarily go to the Apex Court, stressing, however, that if a certain decision is made at the appellate court, it would only be affirmed at the Apex Court.”

“They should be concerned about restricting certain cases that should go to the Apex Court. There are some decisions, once it is decided at the Court of Appeal, the matter should end there at the Court of Appeal,” Barrister Kudu advised.

He noted that the country has several divisions of the Court of Appeal that end up giving conflicting and contradictory decisions, which is affecting the administration of our justice system.

“That will be dangerous to our administration of the justice system. Because now we have several divisions of the Court of Appeal. We cannot pretend that, because most of these Court of Appeals lack certain facilities, they end up giving conflicting and contradictory decisions on the same subject matter.”

“It shouldn’t be like that, so much so that, at the end of the day, which of the decisions of the Court of Appeal are we going to follow?” he asked.

He maintained that not every case should be taken to the Apex Court, particularly civil and contractual cases, adding that a matter that is already decided at the appellate court can only be affirmed at the Apex Court.

He explained that in a situation where there are divergent opinions on the same subject matter already decided at the appellate court as a result of the structure of the Court of Appeal, there is no need for the establishment of any division of the Apex Court.

“Where there are divergences of opinion on the same subject matter because of the structure of the Court of Appeal. So, if the required mandatory number of Justices of the Supreme Court is maintained, I think they will be able to handle multiple cases that are filed before them.”

“I think we don’t need to balkanize our Supreme Court for now. I don’t think it is ideal for Nigeria as a nation to have multiple Supreme Courts,” he said.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) further hinted that once a matter is already decided at the Court of Appeal and the Justices of the Court of Appeal have given their opinion, the matter should not have any place upstairs.

His words: “To me, I don’t think we should have more than one Supreme Court in the country.”