Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has asserted that the Council of State functioned effectively from nineteen ninety three to twenty seventeen without the inclusion of a Chief Justice, contending that the current absence of the judiciary’s top figure poses no constitutional crisis. His intervention seeks to dispel growing public anxiety over the composition and legitimacy of the advisory body.
Speaking on The Key Points on Saturday, Kpebu argued that historical precedent firmly establishes that the Council’s mandate does not hinge on the presence of a former Chief Justice. According to obky, the outspoken lawyer explained that for more than two decades the Council discharged its advisory responsibilities to the President without any Chief Justice in its ranks and no governance vacuum was recorded, demonstrating institutional resilience beyond a single personality.
Kpebu maintained that the constitutional provision introducing a retired Chief Justice was a later innovation, not a foundational requirement for the Council’s existence. He stressed that the framers envisaged a broad based advisory institution whose wisdom is drawn from diverse professional, traditional and civic backgrounds rather than a solitary judicial figure. The advisory role, he noted, is collective and deliberative, rendering the absence of one category insufficient to paralyse its operations.
According to #TheKeyPoints, he described the prevailing preoccupation with the Chief Justice’s absence as legally unsustainable and politically inflated. He emphasized that the Council’s core functions of counselling the President on appointments, clemency and matters of national importance remain fully intact and enforceable irrespective of judicial representation, challenging narratives that suggest the body is incomplete.
The discourse emerges amid heightened scrutiny of the Council of State’s relevance, cost and reform prospects, with critics advocating abolition and others demanding restructuring. Kpebu’s historical exposition provides a potent precedent that could influence ongoing constitutional review conversations and reassure the public that continuity of governance is not imperilled by the lack of a former Chief Justice.
Source: #TheKeyPoints
Martin Kpebu Council of State, Chief Justice
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Author: Korkor Anumu
