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22 Justices Via for 11 Supreme Court Vacant Seats As NJC Considers List
The National Judicial Council (NJC) has received a list of 22 nominees for 11 vacant openings on the Supreme Court bench.
The NJC is expected to pick 11 deserving candidates from the list and forward same to President Bola Tinubu, who shall appoint them to the Supreme Court bench, although, subject to Senate confirmation.
Many news platforms, including Channels Television, reported Thursday that the list was sent to the NJC by the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC).
The FJSC is responsible for conducting some of the earliest steps in the process of appointment of judges for federal courts. The various states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have their analogous bodies carrying out equivalent roles.
The involvement of either the federal or state judicial commission begins after the head of the court that is in need of judges declares vacancies on the court’s bench.
Those interested in the positions indicates their interest by getting recommendation letters from justices and other relevant officials in the justice sector.
FJSC then reviews the applications by checking for eligibility of the applicants in terms of professional records and geographical zone of origin, and interviews them, to prune down the number.
At the end of the process, FJSC sends a list of nominees, double of the number of the openings on the court’s bench, to the NJC.
The court, with 10 justices currently, has 11 vacancies that need to be filled for the court to have its full complement of 21 justices. The court has never attained the feat of having its full complement of justices.
The FJSC list that emerged on Thursday is made up of names of 22 judges of the Court of Appeal seeking to be elevated to the Supreme Court bench.
They are from different geo-political zones of the country. The various zones have varying number of nominees on the list, depending on how many representatives they currently have on the Supreme Court bench.
Currently, only four of the six geo-political zones are represented on the Supreme Court bench. While South-west and North-east have three each, South-south and North-west have two each.
Both the South-east and North-central have zero each. 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.
This accounts for why the two zones with no representatives on the bench has the highest number of nominees on the FJSC list.
Both zones – South-east and North-central – have six each.North-east has two, North-west four, South-West two, and South-south had two.
The nominees are made up of priority candidates, with each having their reserve candidates listed next to them.
After conducting its appointment process which includes interviews, NJC is expected to pick 11 names which it will recommend to the President, who will, in turn, transmit same to the Senate for screening.
It is almost certain for nominees indicated as priority candidates will make NJC’s list to be recommended to the President.
Each reserved candidate is on the list as a possible quick replacement should there be any need to drop the priority candidate.
Below is the list of the nominees with their states and zones of origins:
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)
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
Premium Times
Tension escalated at the Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday as impeached Speaker Mudashiru Obasa made a dramatic return to reclaim his position.
Accompanied by heavily armed men, Obasa stormed the Assembly complex in a bold move that has thrown the State’s legislature into turmoil.
In a stunning turn of events, security details assigned to the substantive Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mojisola Meranda, were abruptly withdrawn on Thursday morning, clearing the path for Obasa’s controversial comeback.
Sources revealed that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) ordered the withdrawal of all security operatives attached to Meranda, leaving her exposed in the midst of an intensifying power struggle.
The Speaker’s Special Adviser on Information, Mr. Victor Ganzallo, expressed concern over the security vacuum created by the withdrawal of personnel.
“In the early hours of Thursday, we woke up to the startling news that all security details assigned to Madam Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, had been withdrawn.
This includes the police and DSS officers, leaving her exposed to threats amid the ongoing speakership crisis,” Ganzallo stated.
He further called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, as the State’s Chief Security Officer, to intervene urgently to prevent a complete breakdown of law and order within the Assembly.
“The withdrawal of security personnel has left the Assembly naked and vulnerable at a critical time. Urgent action is needed to restore order,” he pleaded.
With the speakership battle taking a dramatic new turn, political watchers are keenly observing how the crisis will unfold in the coming days.
Pope Francis showed further improvement on Wednesday, the Vatican said, although it cautioned that “the prognosis remains reserved” for the 88-year-old fighting pneumonia.
“The clinical conditions of the Holy Father in the last 24 hours have shown a further, slight improvement,” said the Vatican in its nightly bulletin on the health of the pontiff, who has been in hospital since February 14.
“Although a slight improvement is being recorded, the prognosis remains reserved,” it said.
The Argentine pope was originally admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital with breathing difficulties and bronchitis, but his condition subsequently deteriorated, sparking widespread concern among Catholics.
Respiratory attacks he suffered at the weekend that required high levels of oxygen and blood transfusions have not been repeated, according to the Vatican, although he continues to receive oxygen and do breathing exercises.
On Wednesday, the Vatican said a CT scan performed Tuesday showed “normal progression of the pulmonary inflammatory condition” while blood tests on Wednesday confirmed the improvement.
It also said that a mild renal insufficiency detected at the weekend “had resolved.”
As Catholics across the globe pray for Francis, doctors have warned the path to recovery could be long, with the Jesuit pontiff likely staying in hospital beyond this week.
Despite his critical condition, the leader of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Catholics has kept up with Church matters from his hospital suite, according to the Vatican.
Now on his 13th day in the hospital, the Pope Wednesday was “sitting in a chair, and continuing with the treatment as normal”, a Vatican source said.
The Vatican said he received the Eucharist in the morning and spent his afternoon working.The current hospitalisation is Francis’s fourth and longest.
The pope, who had part of one of his lungs removed as a young man, has suffered increasing health problems in recent years.
He is prone to bronchitis and suffers from hip and knee pain, which has made him reliant on a wheelchair.
Pilgrims and faithful have been flocking to the Vatican and the Gemelli to pray for Francis, with a fresh round of prayers held in St Peter’s Square later Wednesday evening.
US President, Donald Trump, has unveiled plans to sell new “gold card” residency permits for a price of $5 million each, saying Russian oligarchs may be eligible.
Trump said sales of the new visa, a high-price version of the traditional green card, would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit.
“We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card, this is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The Republican president, who has made the deportation of millions of undocumented migrants a priority of his second term, said the new card would be a route to highly prized US citizenship.
“A lot of people are going to want to be in this country, and they’ll be able to work and provide jobs and build companies,” Trump said.
“It’ll be people with money.”Sales of the cards would start in about two weeks, Trump added.
“We’ll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards. We have it all worked out from a legal standpoint,” Trump added.
The billionaire former real estate tycoon said that all applicants for the new gold cards would be carefully vetted.
But asked if wealthy Russians would also be able to apply, Trump said it is a possibility.
“Possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people. It’s possible,” Trump said.
“They’re not as wealthy as they used to be. I think they can. I think they can afford $5 million.”
A number of Russian oligarchs have been hit by western sanctions since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Trump has caused shock in European capitals by suddenly opening negotiations with Russia to end the war, amid fears that he could be willing to sell Ukraine short.
The US president told reporters that lifting sanctions on Russia was possible “at some point” but was not currently on the table.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, standing at Trump’s side in the Oval Office, said of the gold cards that “we can use that money to reduce our deficit.”
Trump, who has branded a series of hotels and casinos in a long business career, even suggested the new cards could also be named after him.
“Somebody said, ‘Can we call it the Trump gold card?’ I said, ‘If it helps, use the name Trump,’” he said.
AFP
