By Innocent Anaba

Barring any last minutes changes, Justice Dahiru Musdapher is expected to step into the shoes of retiring Chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Aloysius Kastina-Alu,who also doubles as chairman National Judicial Council, NJC.

But who is Justice Murdapher? Born on the 15th July 1942 in Babura Town, Jigawa State. Justice Musdapher was appointed into the Bench of the Supreme Court in 2003. He previously served as Chief Judge of Kano State Judiciary from 1979 to 1985, and as a member of the Court of Appeal from 1985 until 2003.

•Justice Musdapher

He attended Babura Elementary School 1950-53, Birnin Kudu Middle School, 1954-56, Rumfa College, Kano, 1957-62, the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. In1963-64 was in the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies 1964-67, Inns of Court School of Law (Middle Temple) 1964-67 and the Nigerian Law School in 1967-68.

Justice Musdapher was into Private Legal Practice 1968-76, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Kaduna State 1976-78, Judge of the High Court of Kano State, 1979 and Chief Judge, Kano State Judiciary in 1979-85. He became Justice, Court of Appeal 1985-2003 and Justice, Supreme Court of Nigeria, 2003 to date.

He was a regular contributor/discussant, BBC West Africa Service, 1964-1967, Member, Kano Emirate Council, 1968-1975, Member, Kano Metropolitan Council, 1969-1976 and Non-Executive Director, NEPA Board 1974-1976 Director, Kano Co-operative Bank (now part of Unity Bank) 1972-1976. He attended many conferences both locally and internationally.

Some of his classmates were Justice Umaru Abdullahi CON, Justice Katsina Alu CJN, GCON amongst others that have since become giants in Nigerian and international legal circles.

He holds the national honour of the Commander of the Order of the Niger, CON, 2003 Commander of the Federal Republic, CFR in 2008. Married to Hajiya Fatimah Dahiru Musdapher (nee Suleiman Galadima) Justice Musdapher is currently the head of this illustrious family.

He has been nominated as the next Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN.

The appointment to the office the CJN, has over the years been based traditionally on the most senior and from the look of things, one can safely say that Justice Musdapher is the next CJN.

While his confirmation by the Senate as constitutional required, Vanguard Law and Human Rights in this edition, brings the view of legal practitioners in the country on what direction they want Justice Musdapher to go.

Mr Barth Okoye-Aniche, former NBA 3rd Vice President, said “he has no choice but to address what Justice Kastina-Alu is leaving behind that led to the suspension of Justice Salami.

Personally, if the suspension is anything to go by, he has to address it, because abinitio,  the suspension is void and unconstitutional. He has to reverse it, particularly in view of the position by the NBA, so that the judiciary is not destroyed.

“The position of the NBA directing lawyers conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, to boycott the swearing-in ceremony is not a big deal, because once you have been made a SAN, you remain so. What they were told to boycott is just the swearing-in, which is just ceremonious,” he added.

Mr Taiwo Taiwo, Chairman of the Lagos branch of the NBA said, “the issue of the bar and the bench is very paramount. The issue of disobedient to court orders even by persons in high places must be addressed. The new CJN must fight for the independence of the judiciary, so that it is no more in the hands of the executive, who tends to influence it.”

Mr George Etomi said, “for me, the much discussed issue of corruption at the bench, is something he should take up seriously and the judiciary needs to reclaim public confidence in them, which means that there must be more transparent process of appointing and disciplining of judges.

“Secondly, now that Justice Kastina-Alu has brought the bar and bench to conflict over the alleged disregard for rule of law in the way the NJC took a decision on a case that is pending in court, Justice Musdapher needs to move actively for the bar and bench to come back together because they are the essential bodies require in our fledging democracy to restore rule of law.

“If he should deal with these two major issues, other issues will fall in place because you cannot sustain democracy without the rule of law and lawyers and judges must be involved as that is why we must stop this show of shame before the people completely lose confidence in the judiciary,” he added.

Prof Chidi Odinkalu said, “ the circumstances of the current controversy, has quite manifestly compromised Justice Musdapher as CNJ. If I am in his position, I will not accept it because his moral authority to hold the office has been questioned and personal credibility destroyed.

If I were in his position and offered the position, I will not accept . I am not questioning his qualification. The state in which our juiciary is now, needs a transformative figure to address the scandals and to apoint a person, who is deep neck involved in this scandal is in itself, a scandal.”

Mr Richard Nwamkwo, said “the issue of monumental corruption and disregard to ethic of profession must be urgently looked into. We want to see a strategic re-ordering of priorities and that entails the character and disposition of judicial officers, who are to head specific judicial units, such as the Court of Appeal; Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and most importantly, the review of the grossly lopsided in terms of the appointing authorities to those who will serve on the NJC.

“There is also the need for him to ensure and enforce wherever possible, a strict re-course to due process, which is on sabbatical. Even though the NBA had joined in fighting the NJC, it must be noted that it has even more problem than the National Union of Road Transport Workers.

So the NBA must also reform itself. The problems confronting the NBA are very serious and ought to be addressed. On its position on the appointment of SAN, NBA must not be partisan. It is bound to listen to all complaints brought before it. Look at last year’s conference committee, we had a situation where an individual served on five committees, when we have over 25,000 lawyers in the country.

There is no justification for that, unless the impression they want to create is that some economic reasons were attached to appointment into these committees.

A situation where an individual is in more than two committees. Come to think of it, how does such an individual attend meeting of the committees, unless they want us to believe that such committees don’t hold meetings.