Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN have urged the Federal Government to intervene urgently in the matter raised by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, about the number of justices left in the Supreme Court.
In his remarks at Justice Dattijo’s valedictory service on Friday, Justice Ariwoola lamented the Supreme Court’s lack of Justices.
After Justice Dattijo retired, the bench of the apex court was reduced to 10 Justices.
He retired after Justice Amina Augie died on September 22, 2023, and Justice Chima Nweze died on July 31, 2023.
In addition, Justice Mary Odili (ret.) bowed out after many years of meritorious service.
This means that the Supreme Court is 11 justices short of the 21 stipulated by Section 230(2) of the 1999 Constitution.
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In 2022, a total of 23 lawyers, including eight SANs applied to fill six Supreme Court vacancies at the time.
This was in line with the call by the Federal Judicial Service Commission to fill the posts.
Justice Ariwoola said efforts were being made to fill the vacancy, but some SANs told one of our correspondents it was a national emergency in need of immediate attention.
“I want to assure the public who are involved in litigation that we’re working hard to recruit a substantial number of justices to improve the ranking of our court. These recruits will complement the tremendous effort we have been putting in for the betterment of the court’s business”.
Reacting, a senior lawyer, Yomi Alliyu (SAN), said the shortage of judges was one of national importance and should be treated as an emergency.
“When the Supreme Court is in such a situation, the union of justices would be held at a stand-still. Every facet of the judiciary would be affected, especially the international community which is supposed to have businesses in Nigeria.
“We have more than 30 divisions of the Court of Appeal and all the cases would go to them. We need nothing less than 35 justices in the Supreme Court, and at least seven panels would be sitting daily to clear the backlogs and sanitise the system.
