The Senate has confirmed the nominations of eight Justices of the Court of Appeal as Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The confirmation of the nominees followed the consideration of a report by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC – Ekiti Central), in his presentation stated that the appointment of the nominees, satisfied the requirement of Sections 230(2) and 232(1) and (2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
According to the lawmaker, “upon confirmation of the appointment of the nominees by the Senate, all Geo-political Zones will be represented by three or four Justices, as the case may be, except the North-Central Zone, which will maintain its current two Justices on the Bench of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”
Bamidele however explained that, “the reason why the North-Central zone has two Justices unlike other zones, can be attributed to the fact that during the selection process, the nomination from the zone was stood down by the selection Committee for a further review of the nomination by the Federal Judicial Service Commission.”
He added that while necessary steps were being taken to meet the full compliment of the maximum number of Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the appointment of the Eight (8) Justices of the Supreme Court was a bold step taken by President Buhari to strengthen the Judiciary to meet with the challenges of the 21st Century.
Lawmakers, including the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege (APC – Delta Central); Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (APC – Kebbi North; and Gabriel Suswam (PDP – Benue North East) in their contributions, expressed satisfaction with the qualification, experience and competence of the nominees.
The upper chamber in a Committee of the Whole, thereafter, confirmed the nomination of the Eight appointees as Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The confirmed Justices are: Hon. Justice Lawal Garba, North West; Hon. Justice Helen M. Ogunwumiju, South West; Hon. Justice Addu Aboki, North West; Hon. Justice I. M. M. Saulawa, North West; Hon. Justice Adamu Jauro, North East; Hon. Justice Samuel C. Oseji, South South; Hon. Justice Tijjani Abubakar, North East; and Hon. Justice Emmanuel A. Agim, South South.