Supreme Court Justices Under Probe Voluntarily Withdraw From Sittings

The two Justices of the Supreme Court, Sylva Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro, who were among some judiciary officers recently arrested by the Department of State Services on corruption allegations, have voluntarily withdrawn from further participating in the proceedings of the apex court.


According to The PUNCH, the two senior judiciary officers would no longer sit until when they were able to clear their names.

It was also gathered that both Ngwuta and Okoro had not been sitting since they were released after their arrest along with some other serving and compulsorily retired judges between October 7 and 8.

The outgoing Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, was said to have disclosed this at a meeting, which he held with a delegation of the Nigerian Bar Association in his chambers last Thursday.

According to a source, who attended the meeting, the CJN ruled out the call for the suspension of the two justices of the apex court or any of the other arrested judges.

The CJN was said to have told the NBA delegation that the affected Justices of the Supreme Court had, on their own, decided to withdraw from further sittings of the apex court.

The source stated, “The CJN made it clear that the NJC could never have suspended the arrested judges in the absence of any evidence presented by their accusers.

Source: The Punch