The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, has appointed his younger brother, Adebayo Ariwoola, as the new auditor for the National Judicial Council (NJC).
According to a PG report, the appointment places the younger Ariwoola in a key position overseeing the internal audit unit of the NJC, a role with substantial authority to ensure financial integrity and responsibility within the commission.
He is now responsible for evaluating the commission’s internal controls, scrutinising accounting processes, and ensuring compliance with legal standards.
Justice Ariwoola, who holds a position of near supreme authority with vast powers within the judiciary, now has a direct family link to the head of a crucial oversight unit—arguably the only unit capable of exercising independence and effectively checking and balancing any excesses within the CJN’s domain.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the NJC, Soji Oye, said he could not say “any word” on the matter. The spokesman for the Supreme Court, Festus Akande, could not be reached for comments.
Ariwoola’s appointment, despite his relationship with the chief justice, amplifies concerns surrounding potential conflicts of interest and could be reflecting a stealth consolidation of power within the judiciary in ways that raise questions about the internal transparency that is fundamental to the integrity of any institution.
“It is about transparency here,” Chido Onumah, an anti-corruption campaigner, told the publication. “There is no chance that the auditor will do anything to the detriment of his older brother, and there lies the fundamental issue with the appointment.”
Mr Onumah, who coordinates the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), said the perception carries weight and that the chief justice should ordinarily be aware of this.
“Even if the brother were qualified to be the auditor, it is part of the sacrifices that they must collectively make for the sanctity of the chief justice’s office, for being in leadership position,” said Mr Onumah.
He added, “If the brother were appearing before him in a case, his opponent could validly ask Justice Ariwoola to recuse himself from the matter, and the same logic just follows that two members of the same family cannot be watching over each other in a government institution.”
The younger Ariwoola was previously an accountant with the NJC before his promotion to the top-level role, an action public affairs analyst Lanre Suraj believes should be given the benefit of the doubt.
“We should be fair to assume that the NJC will not skip critical hierarchies to appoint the brother of the CJN as auditor,” he said. “Every civil servant has the right to aspire to senior positions within their sphere.”
But Mr Suraj, in another breath, admits the complexity of the situation when he said both the CJN and the NJC as a body ought to “show more respect” for the conflict of interest that is rather glaringly shown.
Whoever will assume the office of an auditor should be “impartial” and “upright,” “having a level of independence,” Mr Suraj said. “Public expectation and assumption will not favour them (the CJN and his brother) in that consideration.”
“For me, I think it will be more than important for the CJN and the NJC to find a way around it without putting both the office of the CJN and that of the auditor in that moral complications and burden before the public,” he added.
This development coincides with a tumultuous phase in the relationship between the judiciary and the general public. The judiciary’s recent string of critical rulings on issues central to the very fabric of the country’s democracy has been marked by a trend of condescending dismissal of public opinion.
Major jurists have adopted a defensive posture that deflects public opinion despite growing scepticism about the judiciary’s overall image.
With PG report
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