Nigeria’s chief justice resigns on health grounds

The highest choose cited well being issues for his resignation, which comes weeks after a uncommon criticism by his fellow justices.

A lawyer walks by way of the compound on the Federal Excessive Court docket in Ikoyi district in Lagos, Nigeria, Might 8, 2018. [File: Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters]

Nigeria’s chief justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad has resigned from his place, in accordance with native media studies and his spokesperson.

Muhammad, 68, has been the nation’s high choose for 3 years however has served on the Supreme Court docket since 2005, cited well being causes as being behind his determination to retire.

Ahuraka Isah confirmed the information to Al Jazeera on Monday afternoon, after Nigerian TV channel Come up Information had reported the information earlier within the day.

However he didn't reply to questions for extra particulars in regards to the resignation or his successor.

In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Muhammad as appearing chief justice after controversially suspending his predecessor Justice Walter Onnoghen, simply weeks forward of an election during which the judiciary often performs an necessary function.

The suspension of Nigeria’s most senior choose broke worldwide human rights requirements on the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers, Diego García-Sayán, a former Peruvian justice minister and United Nations particular rapporteur on the independence of judges, stated on the time.

Muhammad’s resignation comes barely weeks after a uncommon criticism by 14 of Nigeria’s 16 Supreme Court docket justices over a variety of welfare and logistical points, together with a scarcity of analysis assistants and insufficient lodging, leaked.

The judges’ letter of criticism to Muhammad is the primary within the courtroom’s practically 60-year historical past. It included issues relating to authorized analysis assistants offered to justices, erratic electrical energy provide to the courtroom, allegedly decrepit work automobiles given to justices, a number of of which had been claimed to be “substandard”, and a scarcity of web of their residences and chambers.

In response, Muhammad stated the apex courtroom had “been residing [up] to its constitutional duty” however “doesn't exist outdoors [of] its atmosphere” and had been affected by the cruel financial realities dealing with the nation, which at the moment spends practically 90 p.c of its income on servicing debt.