In a clear indication of the inability of judicial officers to deeply appreciate the importance of jealously guarding the independence of the judiciary, Kwara State simply went overboard spreading panoply of intrigues over this important arm of government. When Justice Timothy Oyeyipo retired as Chief Judge after 22 years in office, he did not set in motion the modalities for recommending Justice Fola Gbadeyan, the next most senior judge, to be appointed as Chief Judge. In consequence, upon Oyeyipo's retirement, the chess players in and out of government took their intrigues to Kano State judiciary where they persuaded an Ilorin man, Justice Saka Yusuf, to return to his home state as Chief Judge. But since he was older than Gbadeyan, it meant he retired from office even before the younger judge.

Still undeterred, rather than recommend Gbadeyan for the top post after Yusuf retired, the judicial politicians, who appeared to have surrendered completely to parochialism, drafted Justice Raliat Elelu-Habeeb into the coveted position. But, along the line, she fell out with the powerful forces in government and was controversially removed by the government working in concert with the state legislature. While she was in court trying to reverse her removal, the judicial politicians reluctantly made Gbadeyan acting Chief Judge until he later retired.

Kwara State was, however, not through with subterranean moves. They decided again they were going to make the next in line, Justice A.O. Bamigbola, Acting Chief Judge rather than recommend him as substantive CJ. Next, they rotated the acting position and brought in Justice Suleiman Kawu, and for about three years continued to renew his acting appointment. While Kawu was still acting, Elelu-Habeeb triumphed in the legal action she instituted against her removal and was reinstated.

A few months ago, upon Elelu-Habeeb's retirement, the powerful forces in Kwara recommended a list of names to the National Judicial Council (NJC), with Kawu as number one pick, again bypassing Bamigbola. Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar, however led the NJC to firmly reject the choice of Kawu and insisted the state should let Bamigbola, the most senior in rank, take office. Bamigbola is the Acting Chief Judge. It remains to be seen whether on the expiration of the three months acting capacity, Bamigbola would be confirmed.

The tale in Adamawa is not much different. One month after Justice Bemare Bansi retired as Chief Judge of the state in July last year, the Nigerian Bar Association in the state was furious that a successor had not been named. It had taken one week for the most senior judge, Justice Bartimeaus Lari, to be named to take over in acting capacity.

The NBA chairman in the state, Jeremiah Dzarma who deprecated the development in strong terms, could not have imagined then that the situation would persist for more than 18 months. He exploded: “Why was a new CJ not appointed to replace Justice Bansi immediately after his retirement? One cannot resist the temptation of calling the government of Adamawa careless if not insensitive”.

He told a press conference held at the NUJ press centre in Yola on 21st July 2011 that the mistake that is being made is that of considering an arm of government to be inferior to the other. Otherwise, we should have learnt a lot about transition in government to have avoided the situation we are facing. When the Court of Appeal upheld the nullification of the election of Governor Nyako in 2008, the then Speaker of Adamawa State House of Assembly, Mr James Barka, was sworn-in the same day the judgment was passed, as acting governor. Why is the judiciary being treated differently? There is no arm of government that is inferior to other. The office of Chief Judge is as good as the office of the governor, if not better for obvious reasons”.

Since then, it has been a long session of drama of the absurd. Justice Lari acted for two terms of three months each, handed over to Justice Ishaku Bari who was next in line, who also was in office for two terms before Justice Boboi Umar was handed the charge. Umar is a Muslim and Fulani,leading to speculations that the governor had deliberately refused to recommend his predecessors to the NJC as substantive Chief Judge.

In a state polarised along sectarian lines, it could only add to tension and erode the dignity of the judges and the institution. The governor is widely believed to be playing politics with administration of justice.

But, the drama did not end there. Perhaps to prove wrong his critics, the governor forwarded the name of his nominee to the NJC last month. And it was not Justice Umar. His choice was his wife, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court. As far as Nyako, who has the record of being the only governor so far to have appointed four First Ladies at a time is concerned, since his wife is a judge, why not hand her the office?

It is not known if the nomination passed through the state Judicial Service Commission. The governor was content to have had his way. At least, momentarily. The choice was however turned down by the NJC that could find no justification for the action. Even if Justice Nyako is from the state, she is said to be junior by appointment to the senior judges in the Adamawa State judiciary.

Kogi State's judicial politics may not be as brazen and convoluted as Kwara's and Adamawa's, but it is no less befuddling. When Justice Umaru Eri retired as the state's Chief Judge in 2008, he also did not kick-start the modality for the selection of a candidate for the top judicial position. No names were forwarded to the NJC for consideration. Therefore, on the day of Eri's departure, the next most senior judge, Justice S.K. Ota, became Acting Chief Judge. The state's judicial politicians, who preferred Justice Tom Yakubu, an Igala man, for the job, hoped that they could also rotate the acting appointment until their candidate, got to the seat. Ota's acting appointment was renewed once, and the next in line, Justice Nasiru Ajanah, became Acting Chief Judge. Ajanah, however, unexpectedly frustrated the politics of acting appointment and secured support for himself at the highest national judicial level. He was thus confirmed, and Yakubu got elevated to the Appeal Court, when what the latter really wanted was the position of state Chief Judge. If there had been no politics, Ota would have succeeded Eri, Ajanah promoted to the Appeal Court, and in a little while, Yakubu would have been Chief Judge.