Atiku/Obi versus Tinubu: Supreme Court panel in imminent constitutional crisis as Justice Dattijo retires Oct 27
By Jude-Ken Ojinnaka
There are strong indications that the panel of Supreme Court Justices listed to hear the appeals filed by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party and the Allied Peoples Movement, challenging the judgement of the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC), may encounter constitutional hitches on or immediately after the inauguration of the panel on Monday October 23.
Seven out of the 11 current Supreme Court Justices have been picked to hear the appeals against the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which will begin on October 23.
According to the notice released by Zainab Garba from the office of the Supreme Court registrar, the Justices are Musa Dattijo Muhammad, Uwani Musa Abba Aji, Lawal Garba, Helen Ogunwumiju, Mohammed Saulawa, Tijani Abubakar, and Emmanuel Agim.
However, TheNiche gathered that Justice Dattijo is retiring on Friday, October 27, 2023 while Justices Saulawa and Ogunwunmijo may have have opted out of the panel for some undisclosed but obvious reasons.
Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, the only female on the Supreme Court Panel, may have recused herself from hearing the appeals because her two sons, Otunba Ogunwumiju is APC member in the Ondo State House Assembly and Taiwo Ogunwumiju, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is an APC counsel at the tribunals.
Justice Musa Dattijo Mohammed will retire October 27, 2023, four days after the inauguration of the panel, when he will clock the statutory age of 70.
Already, three other Justices of the Supreme Court – Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwo-Ola, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and Inyang-Okoro – have been recused because of conflicts of interests.
With this development in which five out of 11 Justices are recused, the remaining six cannot be constituted because the minimum number constitutionally required to hear petition appeals at the Supreme Court is seven.
If this development occurs, what will be the fate and outcome of the appeal within the time stipulated by law for hearing and judgement/conclusion of election petitions?
The Supreme Court will be facing an uphill task of securing a unanimous judgement of the seven Justices required by law to adjudicate presidential petition appeal.
A call across to Abuja by the TheNiche confirmed the unfolding development at the Supreme Court, but added “let’s wait and see what happens on Monday”.