Nigeria’s Judiciary Ahead of 2027 – Between Power and the People

This SOTAJ report was the penultimate by this Chief Justice on a judiciary in fast shift. In the month preceding it, Ibrahim Mohammed Saulawa retired from the Supreme Court.

For a minimum of 3 of the Justices, this was their last presence at such event. At the end of the very first week of next month, Uwani Abba-Aji will retire. 4 months afterwards, on 23 March 2027, Helen Ogunwumiju will follow. Stephen Adah will be next on 13 June 2027.

It is not likely that any of these jobs will be filled before the swearing in of the winners in next year’s elections. For assistance, 12 brand-new Justices of Appeal advised for visit in the middle of May 2026 still wait for the approval of the president over 5 months after the NJC transferred its suggestions to him. In the middle of the active season of conflict resolution following the elections in January and February 2027, for that reason, the bench of the Supreme Court will be brief by a minimum of 4 Justices.

This set the phase for the meat of the report provided by the Chief Justice. It laid out some development, consisted of proof of some development, and likewise acknowledged difficulties with confident candour.

Case management became a significant website of attention for this Chief Justice. It is a field that might specify her signature tradition. The numbers inform a few of the story.

In the 2025-26 judicial year, the Supreme Court got 2,456 matters. These consisted of 1,179 civil movements; 573 criminal movements; 13 Sharia-related movements; and 676 appeals. Of the last classification (appeals), there were 433 civil appeals; 212 criminal appeals; 19 political cases; 12 Sharia appeals; and 10 coming from movements.

The reality that this list leaves out any reference of death sentence cases is maybe the very best proof of why the classification of “political cases” stays both intriguing and curious. That classification initially got in the lexicon of the SOTAJ under late Chief Justice Tanko Muhammad in 2021. Because year, 2 years ahead of the 2023 elections, it represented 33 or almost 5 percent of the 681 cases reported2 years later on, following the 2023 elections, political cases had actually ended up being a pillar of the docket of a Supreme Court that “heard 388 political appeals, 215 criminal appeals and 464 civil appeals.”

This year, political cases were a simple 2.8% of the cases heard, a fall of about 45% in contrast to 5 years earlier. It is not likely to stay so as the nation heads into active election season. Development in the decrease of political cases working their method approximately the Supreme Court shows the effect of judicial teaching that discharges courts from judicial oversight of internal management of political celebrations.

The needs on Nigeria’s Supreme Court, nevertheless, stay unsustainable. Throughout the year, the court rendered 411 judgments in overall. This is 16.73% relative to the overall case consumption for the year, a modest enhancement on the 16.18% taped in the previous year. This represents a debilitating work that worryingly in some cases shows in the quality of judgments provided by the court.

By contrast, throughout the very same duration, the United Kingdom Supreme Court thought about 295 applications for Permission to Appeal (PTA), and released 56 judgments. In its capability as the greatest court of the rules in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the court got another 58 cases and provided 54 judgments.

Throughout the Atlantic, the Supreme Court of the United States heard a simple 74 cases. Of these, it took oral arguments in 58 and provided 67 judgments.

These numbers describe a few of the developments in handling judicial throughput reported by the CJN. The court started the application of the Nigerian Case Management System (NCMS), an electronic platform which will ultimately be rolled out to cover all exceptional courts of record throughout Nigeria. It likewise now houses a Mediation Centre to motivate alternative disagreement resolution where possible.

According to the CJN, 125 matters which were currently concluded were found to be still in the court’s active swimming pool and got rid of. Another 178 “moribund matters”, she reported, were “dealt with in chambers.” She did not elaborate on the requirements that would render a case moribund. She might want to clarify this in her next report as it might hold the secret to comprehending the possibility for broadening the scope of matters that can be dealt with in chambers.

In addition, the report divulged that the court has actually developed expedited panels for cases including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON); Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS); Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC); and Sharia. 141 cases fell under this classification, consisting of 52 EFCC cases; 43 Sharia; 21 AMCON; 17 LPDC; and 10 NRS cases.

5 other concerns flagged by the CJN in her SOTAJ report are very important.

Is the withholding by the executive of funds allocated for the judiciary, particularly at the state level. This travesties judicial monetary autonomy. In Edo State, a brand-new law assented to by the guv in August 2026 reverses the clock on monetary autonomy of the judiciary.

Second is the “continuing requirement to protect the stability of judicial consultations, especially at the State level.” She can rely on public assistance in executing her persistence on “benefit, skills, stability and experience” in judicial visits.

Third is the facility of an Election Petition Proceedings Centre with a devoted lawsuits computer registry at the Supreme Court. This is welcome and the CJN is worthy of credit for it.

4th is judicial wellness. In this connection, it is noteworthy that throughout the previous year, the Supreme Court updated attention to “health care and other vital assistance services … planned to offer the institutional conditions needed for judicial officers and personnel to release their obligations successfully.”

Fifth, in a year in which females developed themselves at the greatest levels of Nigeria’s legal occupation, it was fitting for the CJN to acknowledge the continuing requirement for equality of chances in order to guarantee a nation “in which skill is acknowledged, benefit is rewarded and no young attorney is dissuaded from desiring management since of gender, background or scenario.”

These then frame the underlying difficulties as this Chief Justice look for tradition in the 19 months before the drape falls on her period in May 2028. Her next report in 2027 will be the last of her period. Already she would ideally have actually led the judiciary through the headwinds of the 2027 election season.

Oddly this time, the CJN’s report was inexcusably quiet on judicial discipline. The CJN is likewise the Chair of the NJC and reporting on one workplace without the other is insufficient.

Similarly, the omission of death sentence cases from the classifications to which her court accords top priority states something not totally complimentary about the top priorities and approaches that presently underpin the work of Nigeria’s judiciary. It recommends a system inclined to prioritise power over individuals and residential or commercial property over self-respect. That is a fundamental defect that the management of the judiciary and the legal occupation need to attend to urgently.

A legal representative and an instructor, Odinkalu can be reached at