Retirement: Supreme Court Judges Drop To 13

As another judge retired from service,Hon. Justice Abdu Aboki,the number of Nigeria’s Supreme Court judges has dropped to 13, against the 21 justices that are stipulated in the Constitution.

The numbers gradually dropping as from 20 that it was in November 2020, less than two years ago, to 14 in June this year, with
the sudden resignation of the immediate-past Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad.

It has now further dropped to 13, as Abdu Aboki, who joined the bench of the Supreme Court less than two years ago in November 2020, will be retiring.

According to a statement by the Supreme Court’s Director of Press and Information, Festus Akande, on Sunday, said Mr Aboki clocked the mandatory retirement age of 70 on 5 August.

It also said a valedictory court session to mark Mr Aboki’s retirement from the bench, which could not immediately hold after his retirement more than a month ago, would now hold on Thursday, 15 September.

The valedictory ceremony, according to the statement, could not hold then “due to the annual vacation of the court.”

The event, now scheduled to hold at 10 a.m.on Thursday at the Supreme Court, will be presided by the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, the statement added.

Mr. Akande further shared a brief profile of Kano State-born Mr Aboki, who retired from the Supreme Court bench in August, 2022.

He began his journey on the bench 37 years ago when he was appointed a High Court judge in the Kano State judiciary in 1987.

His short profile in the Supreme Court’s statement reads:

“Hon. Justice Abdu Aboki was sworn in as Justice of the Supreme Court alongside seven other distinguished jurists on the 6th day of November 2020; thus spending a rather short period of one year and eight months on the apex court’s bench.

“His Lordship was born on 5th August 1952 in the commercial city of Kano. He had his primary and secondary education in Kano State before proceeding to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he studied Law. Upon his graduation in 1976, he proceeded to the Nigerian Law School in Victoria Island, Lagos; and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1977.

“Justice Aboki was appointed a High Court Judge in Kano State Judiciary in 1987. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2006; from where he came to the Supreme Court in 2020. His Lordship had served in different capacities in many Committees at different levels of Courts in the course of his career. He had equally attended several conferences and workshops where he presented scholarly papers within and outside the country.”

It also said a valedictory court session to mark Mr Aboki’s retirement from the bench, which could not immediately hold after his retirement more than a month ago, would now hold on Thursday, 15 September.

The valedictory ceremony, according to the statement, could not hold then “due to the annual vacation of the court.”

The event, now scheduled to hold at 10 a.m.on Thursday at the Supreme Court, will be presided by the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, the statement added.

It noted that Mr Aboki had “a rather short period of one year and eight months on the apex court’s bench.”
With Mr Aboki’s exit, the Supreme Court is back to where it was in February 2020, when the number of its justices, maintaining a streak of a downward trend, dropped to 13 with the retirement of Amir Sanusi.