President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to confirm 11 justices recommended for the Supreme Court bench.
President Tinubu’s request was contained in a letter read by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during the plenary on Wednesday.
The National Judicial Council (NJC) headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria recommended the 11 nominees to President Tinubu.
The nominees have to be cleared by the Senate before they can be sworn in as Supreme Court justices.
The NJC made the recommendation after receiving a list of 22 nominees to fill the vacant positions at the Supreme Court.
The recommended Justices are Haruna Tsammani (North-east) who chaired the Presidential Election Petition Court, Moore Adumein (South-south), Jummai Sankey (North-central), Chidiebere Uwa (South-east) and Chioma Nwosu-Iheme (South-east)
Others are Obande Ogbuinya (South-east), Stephen Adah (North-central), Habeeb Abiru (South-west), JJamilu Tukur (North-west), Abubakar Umar (North-west) and Mohammed Idris (North-central).
The Senate President referred the request to the Senate Committee on Judiciary for the screening of the nominees and further legislative input.
Currently, the Supreme Court bench operates with 10 justices which falls below the statutory requirement of 21 judges.
The current Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, has pledged to ensure the court has its constitutional number of judges.
Only four of the six geo-political zones of the country are currently represented on the Supreme Court bench. South-west and North-east have three justices each, while the South-south and North-west have two each.
The South-east and North-central do not currently have any representation on the Supreme Court bench.
The two zones lost their last representatives on the Supreme Court bench with the retirement of Dattijo Muhammad from Niger State, North-central, in October, and the death of Centus Nweze from Enugu State, South-east, in July.
If the recommended justices are confirmed, the South-east region will have three justices represented at the Supreme Court. The North-central will also have three justices represented at the Supreme Court bench.
Premium Times