A list of 22 justices of the Court of Appeal nominated by the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) for elevation to the Supreme Court has been sent to the National Judicial Council (NJC).
The names of the nominees, who hail from various regions in the country, were revealed in a document by the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) sighted in Abuja.
The North-Central region has six nominees, while the South-West and South-South regions have two nominees each. The South-East region also has six nominees, and the North-East has two nominees.
It would be recalled that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, during a valedictory court session held in honor of Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad in Abuja last month, disclosed that the Supreme Court is now having the lowest number of Justices in its history.
According to him, the Apex Court has only 10 Justices on its Bench to tackle the heavy workload of pending cases, and he assured that efforts are underway to elevate a sizeable number of Justices to the Bench of the Court.
The CJN confidently assured all the litigant public that efforts are in top gear to get on board a sizeable number of Justices to boost the rank and complement the tremendous effort Justices of the apex court have been investing in the business of the Court.
The justices nominated for elevation to the Supreme Court Bench from the South East, according to the document, are Justice Nwaoma Uwa (Abia State) – Priority, Justice Onyekachi Otisi (Abia State) – Reserve, Justice Obande Ogbuinya (Ebonyi State) – Priority, Justice Theresa Orji-Abadua (Imo State) – Reserve, Justice Anthony Ogakwu (Enugu State) – Priority, and Justice Chioma Nwosu-lheme (Imo State) – Reserve.
Those from the South-South are Justices Moore Adumein (Bayelsa State) – Priority and Biobele Georgewill (Rivers State) – Reserve.
From the South West are Justices Adewale Abiru (Lagos State) – Priority and Olubunmi Oyewole (Osun State) – Reserve, while the North Central has Justices Jummai Sankey (Plateau State) – Priority, Muhammad Ibrahim Sirajo (Plateau) – Reserve, Stephen Adah (Kogi State) – Priority, Ridman Maiwada Abdullahi (Nassarawa State) – Reserve, Baba Idris (Niger State) – Priority, and Joseph Ikyegh (Benue State) – Reserve.
From the North East are Justices Haruna Simon Tsammani (Bauchi State) – Priority and Abubakar Talba (Adamawa State), while from the North West are Justices Muhammad Lawal Shuaibu (Jigawa State) – Priority, Bello Aliyu (Zamfara State) – Reserve, Abubakar Sadiq Umar (Kebbi State) – Priority, and Abdullahi Mahmud Bayero (Kano State) – Reserve.
When contacted on the issue, the Director, Press and Information of the Supreme Court, Dr. Festus Akande, said he was not aware of the list. Also, the Director of Information of the NJC, Mr. Soji Oye, told our correspondent that he is also not aware of the list.
