PEOPLE AND POLITICS BY MOHAMMED HARUNA

Kutigi:-  A Chief Justice for the Times

kudugana@yahoo.com

 

            The possibly apocryphal story is told of how Justice Idirs Legbo Kutigi, the new Chief Justice of Nigeria, once shocked General Sani Abacha, arguably Nigeria’s most fearsome military head of state. On a social visit to one of Justice Kutigi’s colleagues and neighbours, the general was said to have mistaken Kutigi’s residence for that of the neighbour. The somewhat agitated security men at the gate quickly went to the house to announce the presence of the head of state. The security men probably expected Kutigi to rush down to receive his august but unexpected guest. Instead they, and presumably Abacha’s entourage, got a big shocker; the apparently unimpressed Kutigi reportedly refused to receive the visitor and instead sent word back that he was sure that Abacha was mistaken in coming to his house since he had no relationship, social or otherwise, with the head of state.

            This story of Kutigi’s encounter, or more accurately, non-encounter, with Abacha, may be apocryphal, but anyone who knows the new CJN would tell you that he would not be surprised if the event actually took place. Kutigi, those who know him from his secondary school days say, has never been known to suffer the powerful or the rich gladly. He held nothing against them but at the same time he believed no one should sell himself short to anyone no matter how powerful or rich. People, he believed, should always stand up for their rights and self respect.

            And talking about self respect, another story; this time far from apocryphal, is told of how a wealthy neighbour who was also a senior civil servant offered to extend electricity from the powerful stand-by generator at his magnificent residence to the CJN’s very modest house in Minna, seeing how the then National Electric Power Authority routinely cut off electricity to the neighbourhood. Not knowing how his reputedly awkward neighbour would respond, he sent word to the CJN about his apparently well-intentioned gesture. And just as well he did, because the CJN lived up to his reputation; he sent back word that he did not tell anyone that he suffered any discomfort from not having any standby generator of his own to counter NEPA’s inefficiency.

            Such stories about Justice Kutigi’s indifference to power and privilege are legion and most of them were unlikely to have been made up. But even if they were, the stories are a reflection of what others have come to expect of the chief justice since before he started his career as a lawyer and subsequently as a judge.

            That he eventually became a lawyer was entirely fortuitous. Upon finishing his Higher School Certificate from Government College Zaria (now Barewa College) in 1961 he wanted to start a career in Accountancy. At about that time a Barrister’s Course was being organised at the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. An elder Nupe who knew him thought Kutigi should try his hand at law instead of accountancy. The then youthful Kutigi agreed. The rest, as they say, is now history.

            Kutigi’s leadership quality came to the fore quite early in his life. Somewhat provincial in outlook and a bit of a stammerer, his humility, self-discipline and self-confidence apparently far outshone his disabilities in the eyes of the authorities at the Niger Provincial Secondary School, Bida, so much so that they appointed him the head boy. All the students he headed during his tenure, including former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, former Head of State, General Abubakar Abdussalami and the Emir of Suleja, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Awwal Ibrahim, have reportedly testified to his excellence as their head boy. He was noted for always being firm but fair and as someone whose humanity belied his very stern looks.

            The Emir of Suleja, as the Royal Father of the Day during the reception which took place last Saturday in honour of the CJN in Bida, spoke glowingly about his humility and self-discipline, among other virtues. The occasion was at the initiative of the Etsu Nupe, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, on behalf of all of Kutigi’s Nupe kith and kin. Kutigi’s appointment as CJN, said Alhaji Awwal, was a matter of pride not only to the Nupe, but to all the people of Niger State. What the Emir did not add was that with Kutigi’s appointment, the only arm of the federal government a Nigerlite has not headed is the legislature. This, however, is more than compensated for by the fact the state has produced two heads of state and one head of the federal bureaucracy, namely Alhaji Shehu Ahmadu Musa, the Makama Nupe.

            Apart from Alhaji Awwal, others who testified to Kutigi’s character during the occasion included the Makama Nupe and Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji A. B. Umar, the Madaki Nupe and chairman of the organizing committee for the reception, Justice Salihu Modibbo Alfa Belgore, Kutigi’s immediate predecessor, Justice A. I. Katsina-Aku, the next in line as CJN – all things being equal – and the elderly Justice Mamman Nasir, retired president of the Court of Appeal and the Galadiman Katsina and District Head of Malumfashi.

            In one way or the other, all of them agreed that Kutigi was the right choice as CJN for the period of the political crisis that seems imminent as the April general elections approach. They all agreed that Kutigi is someone who can be relied upon to stand up firmly but fairly for what is right and proper, regardless of whose interests are at stake.

            In this Kutigi would, by and large, merely be following the footsteps of his two immediate predecessors, Justice Muhammadu Uwais and Alfa Belgore. Most Nigerians would, I suspect, agree that the judiciary under these two acquitted itself well especially in landmark cases like those on the 2001 Electoral Law, on so-called Resource Control and on the Lagos States Local Government funds. In all these and several other cases, the Supreme Court ruled against a powerful and overbearing central government that tried to muzzle into territories that were essentially either those of the federal legislature, the states or the local governments.

            Not that the judiciary has not had its dark moments during their tenure. It has, and these include the allegations of bribery against Supreme Court judges in the case of Delta State’s Governor James Ibori’s alleged mistaken identity and another case of Globe Motors vs. Honda Place. There was also the controversy that surrounded the Supreme Court’s majority ruling in favour of President Obasanjo against his challenger, General Muhammadu Buhari, over the 2003 presidential election, an election which was widely acknowledged as the most fraudulent in Nigeria’s history.

            Notwithstanding these dark moments and the even worse record of the lower bench where judges hid behind technicalities to rule in favour of the highest bidders in the petitions that trailed the last general elections, the judiciary seems to have retained the faith of Nigerians as their last hope against a rampaging executive arm of federal government which seems hell-bent on imposing a one-man, not even a one-party, dictatorship on the country. This faith has been encouraged by the way the higher bench has recently ruled consistently in favour of those, including Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, lately estranged from his boss, who have challenged the government’s attempts to infringe on their constitutional rights.

            It is difficult to imagine a sharper contrast in personality between Kutigi and his immediate predecessor, Belgore. Whereas Kutigi is stern-faced and insular, almost to the point of being anti-social, Belgore is personable and highly sociable. On a visit any day to their residences in Abuja which sit next to each other, you cannot help noticing the sharp contrast between the heavy traffic going in and out of Belgore’s residence and the near empty forecourt of Kutigi’s.

            But that is where the contrasts between the two neighbours end. In spite of their differences in personality both have demonstrated that justice must continue to be blind if society is not to slide into chaos.

            It is Justice Kutigi’s fortune – or misfortune, depending on how you see it – that he has been appointed the CJN at a time that will sorely test the independence of even the most self-willed human being. Most of those who know him believe he will pass the test, and do so in flying colours.

            What remains is for the rest of us to pray to the Almighty Allah to be his Guide. For, more than anything else in Nigeria today, the fate of the country lies in the judiciary as the institution whose duty it is to judge who among all those contending for legislative and executive powers of government would have sought equity in accordance with our constitution.