Supreme Court Has Lowest Number Of Justices In History – CJN Ariwoola

The Supreme Court currently has 10 justices on its bench, the fewest in the court’s history, according to Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola.

In the concluding court session for Justice Musa Dattijo, who reached the mandatory retirement age of seventy years, the Chief Justice delivered a speech.

He said on Friday, October 27; “With Justices Musa Dattijo leaving us today after the retirement of Justice Adamu Augie a few weeks ago, we are now left with just 10 Justices on the Supreme Court Bench; being the lowest we have ever had in the contemporary history of the court.

“However, I can confidently assure all the litigant public that efforts are in top gear to get on board a sizeable number of Justices to boost our rank and complement the tremendous effort we have been investing in the business of the Court.”

The CJN praised Dattijo and called him an example of excellence that goes beyond the legal field.

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He said, “I am so emotionally overwhelmed, and at the same time, profusely exhilarated to personally witness this uncommon valedictory session.

“This is not because I have never witnessed or presided over valedictory sessions before; but for the fact that we are honouring a quintessential Judicial icon with dazzling qualities and alluring stature who could, in one breath, be classified as a model of excellence that transcends the legal profession.

“My Lord Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad in whose honour we assemble here today is an epitome of jurisprudential finesse; an insuperable lion with an irrepressible voice in the temple of justice.

“We are here to identify with an accomplished jurisprudential iconoclast that has offered the best of his intellect to the advancement of the legal profession through his several years of unblemished and incontrovertible adjudications at different levels of Courts in Nigeria.

“His Lordship has, by all standards, made an incisive inroad into the revered history books of the Nigerian judiciary as that gallant and eminent Justice at the Supreme Court bench who inviolably held sway in the discharge of his judicial functions.

“As second-in-command in the hierarchy of the Supreme Court, my Lord, Justice Dattijo, skilfully aided and supported me virtually in every sphere of administration. He is a specimen of hard work, industry, discipline, and high moral rectitude.”