The Supreme Court was packed to capacity as it heard the case concerning the rightful winner of the 2019 Imo State gubernatorial elections. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Emeka Ihedioha who polled 273,404 the winner after he secured the majority of votes. However, nine political parties were dissatisfied and filed petitions with the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. Following the exchange of pleadings, six petitioners withdrew, leaving only three cases to proceed to trial. Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance (AA) argued that a run-off election should be held between him and Emeka Ihedioha, citing that he came in second and alleged that Ihedioha failed to secure the mandatory 25% of the votes in two-thirds of the local governments. Among all the petitions, only Senator Hope Uzodinma challenged the accuracy of the results compiled by INEC. Despite his fourth-place finish in the election, Senator Hope Uzodinma and the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenged the collation or exclusion of votes from various wards in Imo State. Uzodinma’s petition alleged that INEC had omitted or failed to record votes from 388 polling units across different local governments and wards in Imo State, as detailed on pages 9–27 of his petition. Despite this, the tribunal dismissed his case.
The Court of Appeal, with a majority of four judges against one dissenting judgment, upheld the tribunal’s judgment, labeling the results from the 388 polling units as dubious and of questionable origin. The case proceeded to the Supreme Court, where on January 19, 2020, both the petitioners and the defendant awaited the judgment with bated breath. After a brief deliberation, the Supreme Court delivered its ruling in under ten minutes.
Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, reading the judgment, ruled in favor of Hope Uzodinma, who had finished fourth in the election. The Court found that Uzodinma’s votes from the 388 disputed polling units had been wrongfully excluded. It criticized the two lower courts for requiring the APC candidate to provide eyewitnesses, such as polling unit agents and ward collation agents, given that the appellant’s case was based on excluding votes.
The court directed that the votes tabulated by Hope Uzodinma in his petition—votes that had been discredited during cross-examination—should be added to his total without any further recomputation or verification of whether these additions met the constitutional requirement for geographical spread as specified in Section 179(2) of the Constitution. The Supreme Court then declared Uzodinma the election winner, ruling that he had met the required geographical spread despite no evidence to support this claim. This controversial judgment, which led to Uzodinma being dubbed the “Supreme Court governor,” impacted the credibility of the Supreme Court and placed Kekere-Ekun, who delivered the ruling, in controversy, including resulting in a visa ban from the United States.
Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun began her legal career at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, where she earned her LL.B. in 1980. She then attended the Nigerian Law School, graduating in July 1981, and was subsequently called to the Nigerian Bar. Following her compulsory National Youth Service at the Ministry of Justice in Benin City, Bendel State (now Edo State), she pursued a master’s degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), which she completed in 1983. After qualifying as a lawyer and gaining international experience, Justice Kekere-Ekun worked in private practice for several years. She joined the Lagos State Judiciary as a Senior Magistrate Grade II in December 1989, marking the start of her judicial career on the bench. She was later appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Lagos State on July 19, 1996. From November 1996 until its abolition in May 1999, she served as Chairman of the Robbery and Firearms Tribunal, Zone II, Ikeja, Lagos. Due to her reputation for integrity and diligence, she was one of three Lagos State High Court judges selected to adjudicate financial crimes and money laundering cases under the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act, 2004, and the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
In September 2004, she was elevated to the Court of Appeal, where she served in five different divisions across Nigeria. Notably, she was the pioneer Presiding Justice of the Makurdi Division and also led the Akure Division before her promotion to the Supreme Court on July 8, 2013. While her landmark judgment on the Imo State elections gained significant public attention, it was not her only notable case. In the Osun State governorship election case between Senator Ademola Adeleke and Governor Gboyega Oyetola, Justice Kekere-Ekun was part of the panel that upheld Oyetola’s election, dismissing Adeleke’s appeal due to insufficient evidence of substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act. Earlier, in 2015, she was also on the Supreme Court panel that affirmed Nyesom Wike’s victory as Governor of Rivers State, against challenges from the opposition. The court rejected Dakuku Peterside’s appeal, confirming that the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the law. Justice Kekere-Ekun ruled that while the Electoral Commission is authorized by the Electoral Act to issue regulations, guidelines, or manuals, any act or omission related to these regulations or guidelines, provided it does not contravene the Act itself, does not constitute grounds for contesting the election. She also affirmed that the use of the card reader does not eliminate the manual accreditation process. In addition, Justice Kekere-Ekun presided over Center for Oil Pollution Watch v. NNPC, where she determined that parties directly affected by environmental issues can seek judicial redress. This decision broadened the scope of public interest litigation in Nigeria.
Born on May 7, 1958, in Lagos State, Justice Kudirat Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun is set to become the second female Chief Justice of Nigeria following the retirement of Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. Kekere-Ekun will assume the role after 11 years on the bench and follows Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, who served as Chief Justice from July 2012 to November 2014.
As she takes the helm of the Nigerian Judicial Council, which oversees the appointment, promotion, and discipline of judges across the country, Kekere-Ekun steps into the position when the credibility and trust in the Nigerian judiciary have been in retrogression. During a special session of the Supreme Court in November 2023, the last to be presided over by Ariwoola, Ebun Sofunde, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) speaking on behalf of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN), highlighted that the judicial reputation is at an “all-time low” and expressed concerns that it might be beyond redemption. Sofunde criticized the Supreme Court’s judgments under Ariwoola as “perfunctory.”
Kekere-Ekun faces the critical task of restoring the credibility of the Nigerian judiciary, which suffered during her predecessor’s term, marked by allegations of nepotism. Ariwoola’s tenure was marred by his appointment of family members to key judicial positions: his son became a Federal High Court judge, his daughter-in-law a High Court judge in the Federal Capital Territory, and his brother an auditor of the National Judicial Council (NJC), which he chaired. These appointments were made with little regard for the Judicial Code of Conduct, which prohibits such nepotism and warns against using the judicial office for personal or familial gain.
The independence of the judiciary has been compromised since the removal of Walter Onnoghen, with the backing of the executive. Tanko Mohammed, who resigned due to his failure to address the welfare of his colleagues didn’t hide his fraternizing with the executive. This issue was further exacerbated under Ariwoola, whose frequent interactions with the executive and legislature cast doubt on the impartiality of judicial proceedings. Justice Kekere-Ekun now faces the challenge of restoring judicial independence and ensuring that personal biases do not interfere with her role.
Adding complexity to her task, Kekere-Ekun’s husband, Akin, is a close friend of perennial presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, and her late father, Senator Fasinro, was a confidant of President Bola Tinubu. The road ahead for Justice Kekere-Ekun is steep, with the responsibility of implementing judicial reforms and influencing the lives of over 200 million Nigerians resting on her decisions.
