CJN Ariwoola Moves To Fill 11 Supreme Court Vacant Seats

Justice Olukayode Ariwoola

Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), has begun  the process of appointing 11 new judges to fill the vacancies in the Supreme Court.

This is coming on the heels of the controversy raised by the revelation of Justice Musa Dattjio Muhammed over the exclusion of some regions from the Supreme Court.

The South East and North Central zones of the country no longer have representation at the Supreme Court bench, following the death of Justice Centus Nweze and the retirement of Justice Dattjio, respectively.

Justice Dattjio, who represented the North-Central in the apex court, retired from the bench on October 27, 2023, while Justice Nweze, who hailed from Enugu State and represented the South East, died on July 30, 3023.

Also, the CJN had in September 2022 decried the declining number of justices, saying it has worsened the workload of the court.

However, according to Leadership, the National Judicial Council (NJC) has concluded plans to fill the apex court’s bench to its full complement of 21 justices.

It stated that steps are already being taken by Justice Ariwoola, who is the chairman of the NJC, to fill the eleven vacant positions.

The newspaper reports that the NJC is likely to pick the new Supreme Court justices from among 10 Justices of the Court of Appeal for six North Central and South East slots.

According to the newspaper, it is expected that the six regions in the country should have three representatives each in the apex court bench.