National Judicial Council To Appoint Eight Justices Of Supreme Court

Following the dwindling number of Supreme Court justices, the National Judicial Council (NJC) has started the process of appointing eight new ones to fill the apex court’s severely depleted bench, THISDAY has learnt.

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), in an email he addressed to lawyers on Friday, urged interested and suitably qualified lawyers from the regions with openings on the Supreme Court bench to submit their expression of interest to the NBA secretariat in Abuja on or before 21 June.

NJC is expected to fill the apex court’s bench to its full complement of 21 justices – a feat the court has never attained.

The number of judges at the apex court reduced to 13 since August last year, thus overstretching the judges with an increasing workload.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, in September 2022, lamented how the dwindling number of justices had worsened the court’s workload.

According to Premium Times, Justice Ariwoola, as the Head of the NJC, has sent notices for the nominations of candidates to fill available slots on the court’s bench.

NJC will process the nominations into a shortlist.

The body will then assess and interview the candidates, and send the list of successful ones to President Bola Tinubu for appointment, which is subject to confirmation by the Senate.

Among those that have received the CJN’s requests for nominations in the preliminary stage of the appointment process are the NBA, heads of courts, and judges of the Supreme Court.

NBA President, Maikyau (SAN) in an email he addressed to lawyers on Friday, confirmed receiving the CJN’s notice on 16 June requesting him “as President of the Nigerian Bar Association to nominate suitably qualified candidates to be recommended for appointment to the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”

Maikyau in his email, urged interested and suitably qualified lawyers from the regions with openings on the Supreme Court bench to submit their expression of interest to the NBA secretariat in Abuja on or before 21 June.

Lawyers with at least 15 years of call to the Nigerian bar are eligible to be appointed directly from the bar to the Supreme Court bench.

The available slots on a regional basis are South-east (two); South-south (one); South-west (two); North-central (two) and North-west (one). Only the North-east, among Nigeria’s six geo-political zones, is said not to have a vacant slot currently.