OBASANJO APPOINTS NEW SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 000380

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/04/2014
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KJUS NI
SUBJECT: OBASANJO APPOINTS NEW SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

CLASSIFIED BY COUNSELOR JAMES MAXSTADT, FOR REASONS 1.5 B AND

D.


1. (U) President Obasanjo named two new justices to
Nigeria,s Supreme Court in a letter to the Senate on 9
February. These appointments were recommended to him by the
National Judicial Council (NJC) on 27 November, 2003.


2. (U) The first appointee is George Adesola Oguntade, a
judge on the Federal Appeals Court. Oguntade, a Yoruba, was
the senior judge in line for this appointment in Nigeria's
seniority-based system. He is also currently sitting on the
panel for ANPP presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari,s
election tribunal. It is expected that he will be replaced
by another Yoruba and his transfer should not delay the case.


3. (U) The second appointee is Sunday Akiola Akiotu, also
sitting on the Federal Appeals Court. Akiotu is also a
Yoruba, but is junior to many other Appeals Court judges in
line.

4. (C) COMMENT: Oguntade,s appointment is seen by his
Federal Court colleagues as a timely and well-deserved
promotion, and has their full support. Opinion is split on
how the appointment will affect the Buhari election suit.
Some see Oguntade as one of two pro-Obasanjo judges on the
five-judge Appeals Court panel trying the case. Others say
Oguntade might have been less-than-sympathetic to Obasanjo
and was booted upstairs for that reason. The Supreme Court
is the next stop in that case, if the Appeals Court finds for
Buhari or sends it up without comment. Predictably, some
Nigerians are more concerned over the appointment of two
Yorubas to the Supreme Court at the same time, especially
since the justices they replaced were from other zones in
Nigeria.
ROBERTS