Supreme Court justices placed on US visa ban, retiring jurist reveals

ABUJA — A retiring Justice of the Supreme  Court, Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, disclosed on Friday that some justices of the  court had been placed on a visa ban by the United States of America.

Justice Abba-Aji, speaking during a valedictory session held to mark her retirement from the bench, said the travel ban followed a judgment of the apex court that she described as widely misinterpreted.

She said: “My time on the Supreme Court bench was filled with challenges, some of which have served as additional opportunities to stand firm on the side of justice, regardless of the consequences.

“One of such challenging judgments was widely misinterpreted and led to a travel ban to the United States of America being imposed on all members of the panel, a ban which still holds today.”

Even though Justice Abba-Aji did not mention the specific case that led to the imposition of a US visa ban on Supreme Court Justices, Vanguard understands that it was connected to the legal tussle that followed the 2019 governorship election in Imo State.

Online news subscription

A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court, which included the current Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, and Justice Abba-Aji, had on January 14, 2020, nullified the election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Emeka Ihedioha, and ordered the swearing-in of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Hope Uzodimma, who had initially finished fourth in the governorship election.

In the lead judgment delivered by the CJN, the apex court ordered the immediate withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that had already been issued to Ihedioha by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

It ordered that a fresh Certificate of Return be issued to Uzodimma as the validly elected governor of Imo State.

To arrive at the decision, the apex court panel vacated the concurrent verdicts of both the Court of Appeal and the Imo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which had earlier affirmed the PDP candidate as winner of the gubernatorial contest.

The panel went ahead to add election results from 388 polling units, amounting to 213,295 votes, which were tendered before the tribunal by a police officer who testified as PW-54, but which INEC disowned.

After all the votes were computed inside the courtroom, Uzodimma was declared the candidate who secured the majority of lawful votes cast at the election, a judgment that elicited wide reactions and protests.

Other members of the panel, which was led by the then CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad, were Justices Sylvester Ngwuta, Kayode Ariwola and Amiru Sanusi.

Although Ihedioha subsequently approached the apex court again for a review of the judgment, which he insisted occasioned a miscarriage of justice, his application was refused.

Only one member of the panel, Justice Centus Nweze, gave a dissenting verdict that ordered Ihedioha’s reinstatement as governor, declaring the judgment that removed him from office a nullity.

Justice Nweze then warned the Supreme Court panel about the consequences of the judgment, which he said was delivered in bad faith.

“This decision of the Supreme Court will continue to haunt our electoral jurisprudence for a long time to come,” he warned.

Meanwhile, at the valedictory session on Friday, Justice Abba-Aji who is exiting the apex court having reached the 70-year mandatory retirement age, said the US visa ban was part of the price she paid for her service on the bench.

“Such inconveniences were a small price to pay to preserve the chastity of justice,” she added.

In her address, the CJN, Justice Kekere-Ekun, extolled the virtues of the retiring jurist, who she said had served in various administrative capacities as a Clerical Assistant, Assistant Registrar, Acting Registrar and Higher Registrar since 1973, when she joined the judicial service in Borno State.

She noted that Justice Abba-Aji had served at various Divisions of the  Court in Benin, Abuja, Ekiti, Owerri and Kaduna since September 22, 2004, when she was elevated to the Court of Appeal, before she was promoted to the Supreme Court on January 8, 2019.

“For many of us, particularly the women who have entered the Nigerian Judiciary in more recent years, Hon. Justice Abba-Aji’s career is part of the story of how the place of women in our Judiciary has evolved.

“Long before the presence of women on the Bench became as familiar as it is today, she was already serving, quietly establishing a record of competence and service.

“Hon. Justice Abba-Aji’s journey into the legal profession began at a time when the professional landscape was very different from what we know today.

“Her leadership roles in the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria and, particularly, her service as President of the National Association of Women Judges Nigeria (NAWJN), demonstrate that her interest in the progress of women was not merely incidental to her career.

“She contributed to creating a space in which other women could find their voices and assume positions of leadership,” the CJN added.