The National Judicial Council (NJC) has recommended 12 High Court judges to President Tinubu for appointment to the Court of Appeal bench, in anticipation of election-related litigation following the 2027 general elections.
The recommendations for elevation into the intermediary appellate court bench were made at the NJC’s just-concluded 111th meeting, presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Olatokunbo Motomori.
The meeting, held in Abuja, also produced a raft of disciplinary decisions that laid bare the Council’s increasingly firm posture toward errant members of the judiciary, a posture that saw judges suspended, retired, and queried in one of the more sweeping exercises of judicial oversight in recent memory.
According to a statement released on Friday by the NJC’s deputy director of information, Mrs. Kemi Babalola Ogedengbe, the new Court of Appeal justices, upon their appointment, would fill vacancies created by the elevation of some sitting justices to the Supreme Court bench and the retirement of others upon attaining the mandatory retirement age.
The timing, though procedurally routine, carries unmistakable strategic significance. The Court of Appeal serves as the first port of call for election petition tribunals’ decisions, and Nigerian political history is replete with cases where the appellate court’s composition and capacity have shaped the outcomes of disputed elections.
With 2027 drawing closer and political temperatures already rising, the judiciary is clearly not waiting to be caught flat-footed.
Prominent among the Federal High Court judges recommended for elevation are Justices James Kolawole Omotosho and Emeka Nwite, who have in recent times presided over high-profile political and criminal matters at the Federal High Court bench.
Both jurists are regarded in legal circles as seasoned handlers of complex, sensitive litigation, precisely the kind of judicial temperament that election petition proceedings demand.
The full list of the twelve judges recommended to President Tinubu for appointment as justices of the Court of Appeal is as follows:
- Justice James Kolawole Omotosho
- Justice Emeka Nwite
- Justice Yakubu Mohammed
- Justice Abodunde Oluwatoyin
- Justice Ajuwa Raphael
- Justice Abua Ojie
- Justice Ijohor, Jennifer
- Justice Shuaib Bala
- Justice Buba Njana
- Justice Kado Sanusi
- Justice Adeola Enikuomehin
- Justice Dandom Veronica
All twelve were recommended to the president after passing through rigorous interviews and were found worthy of being diligent judicial officers of repute in both character and performance.
In related appointments, Christine Clement Ende was recommended for the Benue State High Court bench. In contrast, Ibrahim Yakubu and Bala Daura were recommended as Kadis of the Katsina Sharia Court of Appeal.
The 111th meeting was not merely a ceremony of elevation, however. The NJC wielded its disciplinary authority with considerable force, handing down penalties that served notice that judicial impunity will not be tolerated.
Two serving judges, Justice Ibrahim Shekarau of the Benue State High Court and Justice Edward Okpe of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, were placed on a one-year suspension without pay.
They were found guilty of granting frivolous orders against litigants appearing before them and outright denial of fair hearing to favor opposing parties’ offenses that strike at the very soul of the rule of law and the public’s confidence in the courts.
In a separate but equally significant development, eight Imo State High Court judges who had been earlier sent on compulsory retirement lost their appeal to be reviewed and recalled to service. The NJC firmly rejected their plea.
The eight judges are:
- Justice B.C. Iheka
- Justice K.A. Leaweanya
- Justice Okereke Ngozi
- Justice Innocent Ibeawuchi
- Justice Ofoha Uchenna
- Justice Everyman Eleanya
- Justice Rosemond Ibe
- Justice T.N. Nzeukwu
The NJC had earlier indicted them for the fraud of falsifying their ages to enable them to remain in service beyond the permissible period, and they were subsequently retired. Their bid for reinstatement was firmly rejected, with the council signaling that manipulation of official records, a form of fraud that undermines institutional integrity, will attract no clemency.
Perhaps most striking in scale was the Council’s disclosure that 256 judicial officers received queries for various offenses, particularly poor performance in the discharge of their duties, a figure that underscores the magnitude of the NJC’s current reform drive across the bench.
At the same time, 73 petitions filed against judicial officers by lawyers and litigants were dismissed, having been found to be baseless and without sufficient merit to warrant punishment against the officers concerned.
The dual action of disciplining genuine misconduct while shielding judges from frivolous complaints reflects the delicate balance the NJC must maintain as custodian of both judicial independence and accountability.
Legal analysts who spoke to our correspondent on Friday described the 111th NJC meeting as one of the most consequential in recent years, combining institutional renewal with disciplinary rigor in the same sitting.
“What you’re seeing,” said one senior lawyer who asked not to be named, “is a judiciary that is aware of what is coming in 2027 and is trying to ensure it is not found wanting in capacity or in credibility.”
With the ball now in President Tinubu’s court to formally gazette the appointments, all eyes will be on how swiftly the executive acts to fully constitute an appellate bench that Nigeria’s increasingly litigious democracy may soon depend upon.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Twelve judges have been recommended to President Tinubu for elevation to the Court of Appeal, a bench that will bear the weight of inevitable post-election disputes with seasoned jurists like Justices Omotosho and Nwite among the nominees.
At the same time, the NJC demonstrated it will not tolerate misconduct within its own ranks, suspending two judges without pay, upholding the compulsory retirement of eight Imo judges who falsified their ages, and querying 256 judicial officers for poor performance.
