Group asks court to restrain Buhari from appointing 21 ‘unqualified persons’ as judges

A group known as the Justice Reform Project (JRP) has asked a federal high court in Abuja to restrain President Muhammadu Buhari from appointing 21 persons as judges of the federal capital territory.

In April, the National Judicial Council (NJC) recommended 33 candidates to the president for appointment as judges of the high court of the FCT.

However, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/602/2020 and filed on June 10, JRP submitted that 21 out of the nominated persons have not “met the criteria nor satisfied the conditions set out in the extant guidelines and procedural rules for the appointment of judicial officers in Nigeria.”

According to the group, the Judicial Service Committee of the FCT “acted improperly, in bad faith and gross abuse of the power vested in it by paragraph 2(a) of part III of the third schedule of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999” when it submitted the names of the 21 persons to the NJC for appointment as judges.

The plaintiff (JRP) prayed for “an order setting aside the recommendation of the 2nd defendant (NJC) to the 1st defendant (President Buhari) for the appointment of the 5th — 25th defendants as Judges of the high court of the federal capital territory, Abuja.”

Also, they prayed for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the president from “giving effect in any manner whatsoever” to the recommendation made to him by the NJC for the appointment of the 21 persons.

Buhari, the NJC, the Judicial Service Committee of the FCT and the attorney general of the federation are the first to fourth defendants.

The recommended candidates who are joined in the suit as 5th to the 21st defendants include Madugu Alhaji, Ogbeide Enobie, Agunloye Kayode, Eneche Eleojo, Nwanbulu Chineze, Abubabakar Babashani, Aminu Abdullahi, Nwecheonwu Elewe, and Ibrahim Mohammed.

Others are  Sadia Mayana, Mimi Katsina-Alu Apena, Indinya Kanyip, Aliyu Shafa, Mohammed Zuberu, Binta Dongoyaro, Christopher Oba, Fatima Aliyu, Aliyu Ahmed, Hafsat Aliyu, Njideka Iheme, Olufolake Oshin.

The suit is scheduled to be heard before Okon Abang, judge of the federal high court on July 10.