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The Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) has nominated 22 Court of Appeal justices to the National Judicial Council (NJC) for elevation to the Supreme Court Bench.
In the list, some of the names were designated as priority and others as reserved. Those on the priority list are given consideration first before those on the reserve list. According to information gathered, those on the reserve list take over automatically from those on the priority list, if there is any allegation against them that is substantiated after due investigation.
About three weeks ago, some of the names reported by LEADERSHIP as being considered for the top job at the apex court made the list. Last month, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, lamented the depletion in the number of Supreme Court Justices.
Section 230 of the Constitution provides that the Supreme Court of Nigeria shall consist of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and not more than 21 Justices of the Supreme Court. Of the 22-man list, 11 are expected to finally make it to the apex court Bench.
At the moment, there are only 10 justices on the Supreme Court Bench. According to a Federal Judicial Service Commission document sighted yesterday, the nominees represent each geopolitical zone. The North-Central and South-East regions have the largest share with six candidates each, while the South-West and South-South regions each have two nominees. The North-East has the least representation with two nominees.
The nominations aim to fill vacant positions at the apex court, including Justice Augie’s spot, as part of efforts to reinforce the judiciary. The National Judicial Council will now undertake further vetting of the 22 candidates before sending approval recommendations
Some of those who made the list include Justice Simon Tsamani, Justice Theresa Orji-Abadua, Justice Anthony Ogakwu, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole and Justice Stephen Adah. The following justices made the list from different zones in the country:
SOUTH EAST
Hon Justice Nwaoma Uwa (Abia State) – Priority
Justice Nwaoma Uwa was, before his elevation to the Court of Appeal, a judge of the high court of Abia State. Justice Uwa was born on October 26, 1958 and was appointed as a judge in Abia State in 1998. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2006. He had delivered some landmark judgements in his career as a judge. He had his education in Lagos, Abia, Nairobi, Kenya and the United Kingdom.
In 2021 at the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, he dismissed an appeal filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against an order directing the commission to unfreeze the frozen account of Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN). In the judgement delivered alongside Justices Tunde O. Awotoye and James Gambo Abundaga, Justice Uwa held that the appeal lacked merit. Also, at the Court of Appeal in Yola, Adamawa State, he affirmed the death sentence passed by a lower court on three young men for killing Pastor Hammanjulde Dadon.
Hon Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi (Abia State) – Reserve
Justice Otisi was born on March 10, 1960. Like Justice Uwa, she also hails from Abia State and was called to the Bar in 1980. She was educated in Enugu, Ile-Ife Osun State and London. She became a judge of the Appeal Court in 2012 but was first appointed a judge in 1998.
While at the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, she ordered the office of the attorney-general of the state to pay N500,000 to a security guard, Sule Sanni, who was arrested in 1999 and unlawfully detained for 12 years without arraignment or prosecution. Also, recently, she headed the panel of the court that affirmed the election of the lawmaker representing Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwu Federal Constituency of Benue State, Philip Agbese. Agbese is the deputy spokesperson of the 10th House of Representatives.
Hon Justice Obande Ogbuinya (Ebonyi State) – Priority
Justice Ogbuinya hails from Ebonyi State and was born in 1965. He was appointed a judge in 2002 and got his elevation to the Court of Appeal in 2010. He had his education in both Anambra and Lagos State.
Justice Ogbuinya gave a dissenting judgment in the appeal challenging the decision of the Kogi State Governorship Election Tribunal that Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress did not participate in all the processes of the election.
Justice Ogbuinya, who wrote a minority judgement, said the declaration of Bello as the duly elected governor of Kogi by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was in breach of section 141 of the Electoral Act 2010. Based on this, the learned justice voided the declaration.
Hon Justice Theresa Orji-Abadua (Imo State) – Reserve
Justice Orji-Abadua was born on October 15, 1959 and she hailed from Ikeduru local government of Imo state. She had her education in the United Kingdom and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984. She was appointed a judge in 1996 and was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2008.
One of the landmark judgements Justice Orji-Abadua delivered was that of Ondo State governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, against Eyitayo Jegede of the People’s Democratic Party. In that judgement, she affirmed the election of Mr Akeredolu as the duty elected governor of Ondo State. She also presided over the leadership dispute of the Labour Party.
Hon Justice Anthony Ogakwu (Enugu State) – Priority
Justice Ogakwu chaired the panel that upheld the conviction of Faisal, son of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team (PRTT), over money laundering. Ogakwu was appointed a judge of the Appeal Court in 2014. He is from Udi in Enugu State, and was born on August 4, 1964. He studied in Enugu and Lagos and was first appointed a judge of the Federal Capital Territory in 2003.
Hon Justice Chioma Nwosu-lheme (Imo State) – Reserve
One incident Justice Nwosu-Iheme will not forget in a hurry was her abduction in Benin City in 2019 but she later regained freedom after about 14 days in captivity. Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme was abducted on October 30, 2019 at about 11.30am in Benin City. Her security detail, a police inspector, was killed in the incident. Justice Nwosu-Iheme became a judge of the appeal court in 2008 but was first appointed a judge in 1995. She had her education in Enugu, Imo, Edo and Lagos states.
SOUTH SOUTH
Hon Justice Moore Adumein (Bayelsa State) – Priority
Justice Adumein hails from Bayelsa State and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984. He went further to enroll in University of Hong Kong in 2004 for Post Graduate Certificate in Corruption Studies. Justice Adumeyin was born in 1964 and was first appointed a high court judge in 2001 before his elevation to the Court of Appeal nine years later.
Hon Justice Biobele Georgewill (Rivers State) – Reserve
During the frequent face-offs between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, which ended up in court, Justice Georgewill presided over the case at the Appeal Court. Justice Georgewill was until his appointment to the Court of Appeal in 2014 a judge of the High Court of Rivers State. Born in 1965, he studied in Lagos and Rivers states and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1989.
SOUTH WEST
Hon Justice Adewale Abiru (Lagos State) – Priority
Justice Abiru has always identified corruption as the cause of under development in the country. In December 2021, he said the country had a dysfunctional public service system that had been bastardized by the ills of favouritism, partisanship, greed, corruption, tribalism, nepotism and other primordial considerations.
While speaking as the keynote speaker at the 4th edition of the Gani Fawehinmi Impact and Integrity Awards organised by Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Resources, Justice Abiru said the public service was inefficient and beset with massive capacity collapse caused by its being populated largely by unqualified and incompetent staff. Justice Abiru, a former judge of Lagos State High Court, became Justice of the Court of Appeal in 2012. He was born in 1964 and studied in Lagos.
Hon Justice Olubunmi Oyewole (Osun State) – Reserve
Justice Oyewole is considered one of the most outstanding jurists on the Bench; he played an extensive role in the reform of the Administration of Criminal Justice law in Nigeria. Justice Oyewole upheld the sacking of Senator Peter Nwaoboshi as the senator-elect for Delta North Senatorial District. Justice Oyewole is known for some of his landmark judgements as a judge in Lagos High Court which earned him elevation to the Court of Appeal in 2014. He was born on May 13, 1965, hails from Ila Oragun in Osun State and had his education in Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Lagos states.
NORTH CENTRAL
Hon Jummai Sankey (Plateau State) – Priority
Justice Jummai Sankey is a very senior justice of the court that may gain elevation to the Supreme Court. She hails from Jos, Plateau State. She attended the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos State, from 1979 to 1980. She was appointed as a judge of Plateau State High Court in 1993.
Hon Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Sirajo (Plateau) – Reserve
Justice Sirajo was born in Wase, Plateau State in 1960. He became a lawyer in 1986 after being called to the bar and was appointed a justice of the appeal court in 2021. Hon Justice Stephen Adah (Kogi State) – Priority
Justice Adah, who is the presiding Justice of the Asaba Division of the Court of Appeal, was born on June 13, 1957. He hails from Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Adah studied in Kaduna and Lagos.
He was appointed a judge of the Federal High Court on November 12, 1998, and was later elevated to the Court of Appeal on November 5, 2012. He served as a member of the three-man panel that granted Obi and Atiku’s motions to serve Tinubu their petitions by substituted means. He was also part of the panel that heard and determined the petition.
Adah has delivered verdicts on several cases and one of his landmark decisions was in the appeal filed by the EFCC in 2020 against a trial court’s decision which partially upheld the no-case submission filed by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s cousin, Robert Azibaola.
He led the panel that affirmed Ifeanyi Ubah as a Senator after his sack over alleged certificate forgery. He also led the panel that affirmed Valentine Ozigbo as the PDP governorship candidate for the Anambra State Governorship election. He is ranked 22nd on the seniority list of the Court of Appeal.
Hon Justice Ridman Maiwada Abdullahi (Nasarawa State) – Reserve
Justice Abdullahi was born in 1957 in Keffi, Nasarawa State. He joined the Bench in 2003 and got elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2014.
Hon Justice Baba Idris (Niger State) – Priority
Justice Idris is the youngest among the newly recommended justices to the apex court. He was born on September 25, 1970 in Lavun, Niger state and was called to the bar in 1993. He became a judge of the Federal High Court in 2008 and rose to become a justice of the appeal court in 2018.
Hon Justice Joseph Ikyegh (Benue State) – Reserve
Another senior Judge of the court who may be elevated to the apex court is Justice Joseph Ikyegh. He was said to have been transferred to Port Harcourt Division of the court following his decision on the petition filed by Atiku and Obi at the primary state.
NORTH EAST
Hon Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani (Bauchi State) – Priority
Justice Haruna Tsammani was born on November 23, 1959. He hails from Tafawa Balewa LGA of Bauchi State. Tsammani studied in Kaduna and Lagos and started as a High Court judge in Bauchi State on September 17, 1998. Justice Tsammani has presided over various election and financial matters as a judge. He also presided over the VAT case between the Rivers State Government and the federal government.
He was later elevated to the Court of Appeal on July 16, 2010 and is number 11 on the seniority list of the court. He chaired the Presidential Election Petition Court that heard the petition filed against the election of President Bola Tinubu by former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP.
Hon Justice Abubakar Talba (Adamawa State)
Justice Talba came to the limelight for his judgement on pension thief Mohammed Yusuf, who was given a slap in the wrist after being found guilty of stealing billions of pension funds. Justice Talba found him guilty of the offence and fined him N750,000, which Yusuf paid immediately and regained his freedom. That decision earned him suspension from the NJC which said he did not use his discretion while determining the matter. Talba was born in 1960 and was appointed to the court in 2018.
NORTH WEST
Hon Justice Muhammad Lawal Shuaibu (Jigawa State)- Priority
Justice Shuaibu was born in 1960 and hails from Jigawa State. He was called to Bar in 1985 and became a justice of the Court of Appeal in 2014 after being appointed a judge in Jigawa state in 2002.
Hon Justice Bello Aliyu (Zamfara State) – Reserve
Justice Aliyu, from Zamfara State, was born in 1965 in Maru and was called to the Bar in 1989. He got elevated to the Appeal Court in 2018 after being admitted to the Bench in 2002.
Hon Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar (Kebbi State) – Priority
Justice Umar became a judge of the high court of the Federal Capital Territory in 2003. He had his education in London, South Africa, Kaduna and Sokoto states. He got elevated to the Appeal Court in 2018.
