The nomination of 22 justices for Supreme Court appointment is raising the dust in the judiciary.
This is because some senior serving and retired justices are at daggers drawn over the list released by the Federal Judicial Service Commission, FJSC, last Thursday.
A senior Justice told reported that President Bola Tinubu may be heading towards direct confrontation with a wider section of senior members of the Nigerian bench, saying that:
“never in the history of Nigeria has the appointment of Supreme Court justices been this politicized.”
Another Justice said the case of North-Central zone where the son of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN was slated as a priority while a senior jurist with over 15 years experience in the Court of Appeal, is placed as reserve, is controversial.
The Justice added that the strangest of the ongoing process is that the South-South slot where the person adjudged as the very best is curiously pencilled as reserve.
Sources said that during the processing phase, the Justice placed as priority was not short-listed among the four that were sent to the FJSC.
“The question many in the Judicial circle are asking is, how did someone who did not make the short-list suddenly emerge as priority over and above the person adjudged to be the best?
A source disclosed that for the South-South, the Justice placed as reserve now was the priority candidate in 2019 but was dropped then because he was considered to be too young at 53, adding:
“How did he suddenly drop four years after he has been rated so highly? Anyone who wants to check the quality of the Justices can go to the Law Pavilion, which is the electronic law report and see which Justice of the Court Appeal has the highest ratio. The person placed as reserve has the highest ratio.”
In the North-West, some Justices wondered how Justice AB Gumel was dropped from the list despite being the number one on the list of jurists from his zone.
In the South-West, the source said a justice who was a reserve candidate in 2019 is still on the reserve list while a justice who had never made the short-list was placed as priority.
The controversy continued to rise from the six geo-political zones of the country. See the list of the 22 Justices nominated for appointment at the Supreme Court:
SOUTH-EAST
- Hon Justice Nwaoma Uwa (Abia State)-Priority
1A.Hon Justice Onyekachi Otisi (Abia State) -Reserve
- Hon Justice Obande Ogbuinya (Ebonyi State)-Priority
2A. Hon Justice Theresa Orji-Abadua (Imo State)- Reserve
- Hon Justice Anthony Ogakwu (Enugu State)-Priority
3A. Hon Justice Chioma Nwosu-lheme (Imo State)-Reserve
SOUTH-SOUTH
- Hon Justice Moore Adumein (Bayelsa State)-Priority
1A. Hon Justice Biobele Georgewill (Rivers State)-Reserve
SOUTH-WEST
- Hon Justice Adewale Abiru (Lagos State)-Priority
1A. Hon Justice Olubunmi Oyewole (Osun State)-Reserve
NORTH-CENTRAL
- Hon Jummai Sankey (Plateau State)-Priority
1A. Hon Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Sirajo (Plateau)-Reserve
- Hon Justice Stephen Adah (Kogi State)-Priority
2A. Hon Justice Ridman Maiwada Abdullahi (Nassarawa State) -Reserve
- Hon Justice Baba Idris (Niger State)-Priority
3A. Hon Justice Joseph Ikyegh (Benue State)-Reserve
NORTH-EAST
- Hon Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani (Bauchi State)-Priority
1A. Hon Justice Abubakar Talba (Adamawa State)
NORTH-WEST
- Hon Justice Muhammad Lawal Shuaibu (Jigawa State)-Priority
1A. Hon Justice Bello Aliyu (Zamfara State) -Reserve
- Hon Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar (Kebbi State)-Priority
2A. Hon Justice Abdullahi Mahmud Bayero (Kano State)-Reserve.
