Twenty-two Justices of the Court of Appeal have been nominated by the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), for elevation to the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Consequently, FJSC has sent the list of the 22 nominees to the National Judicial Council (NJC) for ratification and onward recommendation to President Bola Tinubu.
The names of the nominees were revealed in an FJSC document released on Thursday. The nominees include the chairman of the defunct Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC), Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, who hails from Bauchi State.
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.
The development is coming after the retirement of Justices Amina Augie and Mohammed Dattijo, which left the Supreme Court with only 10 serving Justices.
LEADERSHIP observes that while some of the nominees were tagged ‘Priority’, others were tagged ‘Reserve’. By implication, the ‘reserve’ nominees are alternate nominees in case of any eventuality.
See the full list of the 22 nominated Justices below:
SOUTH-EAST:
1. Hon Justice Nwaoma Uwa (Abia State) – Priority
1A.Hon Justice Onyekachi Otisi (Abia State) – Reserve
2. Hon Justice Obande Ogbuinya (Ebonyi State) – Priority
2A. Hon Justice Theresa Orji-Abadua (Imo State) – Reserve
3. Hon Justice Anthony Ogakwu (Enugu State) – Priority
3A. Hon Justice Chioma Nwosu-lheme (Imo State) – Reserve
SOUTH-SOUTH:
1. Hon Justice Moore Adumein (Bayelsa State) – Priority
1A. Hon Justice Biobele Georgewill (Rivers State) – Reserve
SOUTH-WEST:
1. Hon Justice Adewale Abiru (Lagos State) – Priority
1A. Hon Justice Olubunmi Oyewole (Osun State) – Reserve
NORTH-CENTRAL:
1. Hon Jummai Sankey (Plateau State) – Priority
1A. Hon Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Sirajo (Plateau) – Reserve
2. Hon Justice Stephen Adah (Kogi State) – Priority
2A. Hon. Justice Ridman Maiwada Abdullahi (Nassarawa State) – Reserve
3. Hon Justice Baba Idris (Niger State) – Priority
3A. Hon Justice Joseph Ikyegh (Benue State) – Reserve
NORTH-EAST:
1. Hon Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani (Bauchi State) – Priority
1A. Hon Justice Abubakar Talba (Adamawa State) – Reserve
NORTH-WEST:
1. Hon Justice Muhammad Lawal Shuaibu (Jigawa State) – Priority
1A. Hon Justice Bello Aliyu (Zamfara State) – Reserve
2. Hon Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar (Kebbi State) – Priority
2A. Hon Justice Abdullahi Mahmud Bayero (Kano State) – Reserve
