Court faults Buhari for sending 11 names to Senate for appointment as Abuja High court judges

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5 years ago

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday held that President Muhammadu Buhari contravened the law when he sent the names of 11 candidates recommended to him by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for appointment as judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory to the Senate for screening and confirmation.

Justice Ekwo, while delivering judgment in a suit filed by an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Oladimeji Ekengba, who contended that the forwarding of the names of the 11 nominees by Buhari to the Senate breached Section 256(2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.

It would be recalled that the President picked 11 names from among the 33 names the NJC recommended to him in April 2020 for appointment as judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

He forwarded the 11 names to the Senate for screening, but the Senate declined to act on the list having admitted that the President had no role to play in the appointment of judges for Abuja High Court.

The 11 judges have since been sworn in by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad.
Besides faulting the act of the President for sending the names of 11 of the candidates to the Senate, the plaintiff contended in his suit that the President lacked the power to pick and choose whom among the candidates recommended by the NJC to appoint as judges.

Ekengba sought among other prayers, an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Senate from screening and confirming the candidates as judges of the FCT High Court.

Justice Ekwo, in his judgment, agreed with the plaintiff that Buhari acted in contravention of the provision of Section 256(2) of the Constitution by forwarding the 11 names to the Senate.

Ekwo also agreed with the plaintiff that only the appointment of a head of the court, like the Chief Judge, required Senate confirmation.

The judge however held that the contravention of the law by the President did not affect the judges’ inauguration.

Defendants in the suit are Buhari, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Senate and the Senate President, the Clerk of the Senate, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad and the NJC.

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