The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, has pledged that the Supreme Court will soon have the full complement of 21 justices.
He made the pledge in Abuja in a session to mark the Supreme Court’s 2023/2024 legal year and the swearing-in of 58 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs).
Mid-November, a list of 22 justices of the Court of Appeal nominated by the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) for elevation to the Supreme Court was sent to the National Judicial Council (NJC).
At the moment, the apex court has 10 Justices following the gale of retirements that hit the Supreme Court, but the CJN assured the litigant public on Monday that the apex court would soon have the full complement of 21 justices.
Justice Ariwoola said, “The cherry on the news is that as soon as I assumed office on the 27th day of June 2022, I immediately got down to work on this urgent and immediate need in particular.
“Though we have not gotten them on board yet, I can convincingly assure the litigant public that within a very short while, the Supreme Court of Nigeria will, for the very first time in its history, get the Constitutionally prescribed full complement of 21 Justices.
“That is one of the legacies I have been working assiduously to leave behind as it now seems that the Court has been somewhat ‘jinxed’ from meeting its Constitutional requirement since that piece of legislation was enacted several years ago.”
