The nomination of 22 justices for Supreme Court appointment is raising the dust in the judiciary.
Some senior serving and retired justices are worried over the nomination list of 22 justices for Supreme Court appointment released by the Federal Judicial Service Commission, FJSC, last Thursday.
A senior Justice said that President Bola Tinubu may be heading towards direct confrontation with a wider section of senior members of the Nigerian bench, saying that “never in the history of Nigeria has appointment of Supreme Court justices been this politicized,” according to a twitter post by Imran Muhammad.
The Justice added that the strangest of the ongoing process is that “the South-South slot where the person adjudged as the very best is curiously pencilled as reserve.
Sources said that during the processing phase, the Justice placed as priority was not short-listed among the four that were sent to the FJSC.
The source disclosed that for the South-South, the Justice placed as reserve now was the priority candidate in 2019 but was dropped then because he was considered to be too young at 53, adding.
In the South-West, the source said a justice who was a reserve candidate in 2019 is still on the reserve list while a justice who had never made the short-list was placed as priority.
If not urgently addressed, some senior members of the Nigerian Judiciary feared that the low morale and rancour in the Judiciary would worsen.
But a renowned academic and a respected member of the inner bar, Prof Yemi Akinseye George, SAN applauded the FJSC’s list that became a public knowledge last Thursday.
He said it is though possible for human error to have filtered into the list, he nonetheless said he could score the list 99.9%
He said he felt very proud when he saw the list of Justices.
