CJN Swears In Wike’s Wife Others As Appeal Court Justices
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, will swear Eberechi Suzette Wike, wife of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and 21 other judges appointed to the Court of Appeal.
The CJN will also swear in 12 legal practitioners appointed as judges of the Federal Capital Territory High Court.
The ceremony will take place on Wednesday at the Supreme Court, marking an important milestone for the judiciary and the country’s legal system.
A statement made available to journalists by the Director of Information & Public Relations at the Supreme Court, Dr. Akande Festus, identified those who will be inaugurated into the bench of the Court of Appeal as Abdullahi Muhammad Liman from Nasarawa State; Abiodun Azeem Akinyemi from Ogun State; Olukayode Adegbola Adeniyi from Oyo State; Zainab Bage Abubakar from Kebbi State; Isaq Mohammed Sani from Kaduna State; Lateef Babajide Lawal-Akapo from Lagos State; Ngozika U. Okaisabor from Imo State, Donatus Nwaezuoke Okorowo from Enugu State; Ruqayat Oremei Ayoola from Kogi State; Polycarp Terna Kwahar from Benue State; Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike from Rivers State; Fadawa Umaru from Borno State; Oyewumi Oyejoju Oyebiola from Oyo State; and Ntong Festus Ntong from Akwa Ibom State; Nehizena Idemudia Afolabi from Edo State; and Nnamdi Okwy Dimgba from Abia State.
Others are Abdu Dogo from Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; Abdulazeez M. Anka from Zamfara State; Owibunkeonye Onwosi from Ebonyi State; Asma’u Akanbi-Yusuf from Kwara State; Victoria Toochukwu Nwoye from Anambra State; and Enenche Eleojo from Kogi State.
Those to be sworn in as judges of the FCT High Court include Buetnaan Mandy Bassi from Plateau State; Ademuyiwa Olakunle Oyeyipo from Kwara State; Bamodu Odunayo Olutomi from Lagos State; Iheabunike Anumaenwe Godwin from Imo State; and Odo Celestine Obinna from Enugu State.
Others are Hauwa Lawal Gummi from Zamfara State; Sarah Benjamin Inesu Avoh from Bayelsa State; Maryam Iye Yusuf from Kogi State; Ariwoola Oluwakemi Victoria from Oyo State; Lesley Nkesi Belema Wike from Rivers State; Ibrahim Tanko Munirat from Bauchi State; and Abdulrahman Usman from Taraba State.
Last Friday, Ibom Focus reported that Eberechi Suzette Wike and 21 others had made the final list of the Court of Appeal judges.
The President of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice M.B Dongban-Mensem had requested the appointment of 22 new Justices to the Court of Appeal, which included Eberechi Suzette Wike.
It was earlier reported that members of the Federal Judicial Service Commission had advised the National Judicial Council to nominate Wike’s wife and the other 21 judges as their priority for appointment as Justice of the Court of Appeal.
Justice Olukayode Ariwoola is the head of both the FJSC and the National Judicial Council.
In 2022, Ariwoola attended a dinner held in his honour in Port Harcourt by the Rivers State Government under then-Governor Wike.
At the event, Ariwoola backed his kinsman and Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, for his membership of the G5, which was led by Wike.
The G5 comprised five aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party governors – Wike, then-Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, then-Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and then-Enugu Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
The aggrieved governors called for fairness in the PDP, insisting that the then-National Chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, must step down to pave the way for someone from the South to succeed him, since the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, hails from the North.
“That is why we should not be scared to have these men of the integrity group. And I am happy that my own governor is among them because he would try to imitate his friend and in-law because we came here to marry for my governor.
“So, Governor Wike will always threaten that he will call back his sister if my governor fails to play ball. That is why you see him following his Excellency (Wike) because my governor is afraid of his wife being recalled,” Ariwoola had said.
