The Chief Justice of Nigeria ( CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, has resigned, multiple media sources said, this is even as the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) has shortlisted 29 candidates in the ongoing appointment process to fill six vacancies on the Supreme Court bench.

Justice Muhammad was said to have resigned on Sunday night, citing ill-health as the reason for his decision.

It was gathered that arrangements are ongoing to swear in the next most senior justice of the Supreme Court as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria.

The current most senior in the apex court is Justice Olukayode Ariwoola.

According to reports, a formal announcement will be made to that effect in due course.

Until his resignation, reports had it that Justice Muhammad was seriously ill.

In la leaked letter by 14 Supreme Court justices, the Tanko was accused of refusing to address the despicable state of affairs in the Supreme Court despite drawing his attention to them.

They complained of a lack of residential accommodation and vehicles at the court.

The justices further accused the CJN of gallivanting with his “spouse, children and personal staff,” while not allowing them to travel with an assistant on foreign trips.

The justices decried the lack of legal research assistants, despite the magnitude of cases being adjudicated.

Channels Television reports that on erratic electricity supply, the justices said they have been confined to work between the “hours of 8 a.m and 4 p.m daily, for lack of diesel,” after they were notified of the development by the Supreme Court’s Chief Registrar, Hajo Bello.

Meanwhile, Justice Tanko Muhammed did not attend the opening of the training for Judges on Alternative Dispute Resolution organized by the National Judicial Institute, amidst reports of resignation.

Although no Supreme Court Justice is present at the event.

Training of Judges by the Institute is usually declared open by the CJN or any of his representatives. however, the Administrator of the Institute, Justice Garba has opened the session.

In another development, the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) has shortlisted 29 candidates in the ongoing appointment process to fill six vacancies on the Supreme Court bench.

All the 29 candidates are current Justices of the Court of Appeal, indicating that the push for appointment of lawyers directly from the bar to the Supreme Court bench has failed again.

The list is contained in a June 13, 2022 letter sent by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) requesting its members to comment on the suitability of the shortlisted candidates for the position on or before Monday.

The letter signed by the chairman, NBA Judiciary Committee, Babatunde Ajibade, and made public by the association on Monday, recalled that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and chairman of FJSC, Tanko Muhammad, had in a January 19, 2022 letter asked the association to nominate suitable candidates for the six slots on the Supreme Court bench.

PREMIUM Times reported that the CJN’s letter requested nominations of candidates from five geo-political zones with vacant slots on the bench – South-South, South-east, South-West, North-west, and North-central.

Following the CJN’s letter of request for nominations, the NBA, in a February 7, 2022 letter, called for the expression of interest from suitably qualified members from the relevant geo-political zones.

The NBA would later receive a letter dated May 27, 2022 with the list of shortlisted 29 candidates requesting members of the association to comment on the nominees’ suitability. No lawyer is among the 29 candidates, who are all serving judges of the Court of Appeal.

It is expected that the FJSC would draw another short list which would be sent to the National Judicial Council (NJC), also chaired by the CJN.

The NJC will make the final choice of the six candidates whom they will recommend to the President for appointment subject to the screening by the Senate.

If the process is concluded early, the appointment of six Justices will jerk up the number of Supreme Court judges from its current 15, including the CJN, to its full complement of 21, a feat the court has never achieved.

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