The Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Tanko Mohammed, has said on Monday, he was worried over the increasing number of appeals flooding the Supreme Court on a daily basis.
Justice Mohammed, who spoke at a valedictory court session held in honour of Justice Amiru Sanusi, who clocked the 70 years mandatory retirement age on Sunday, said the apex court, “is daily inundated and suffocated with cases of different types.”
He said: “The highly embarrassing litigious nature of Nigerians” does not give space for Justices of the apex court to rest their nerves.
“We can hardly have time for ourselves and our families.”
According to him, with the exit of Justice Sanusi from the Supreme Court, the number of Justices on the apex court bench has reduced to as low as 13.
The CJN added: “You will recall that barely seven weeks ago, being Thursday, 12th December, 2019, we assembled here to honour our brother, Justice Kumai Baying Aka’ahs, JSC, OFR, in a similar valedictory session.
“That ceremony painfully occasioned the depleting of our ranks at the Supreme Court. In a similar fashion, this session, too, is billed to further drastically reduce the number of Supreme Court justices as low as 13.
“This is not a cheering news in view of the ever-increasing number of appeals that flood the Court on a daily basis.”
He described the retired jurist at “an epitome of humility and untainted integrity,” saying he gave “sterling account of himself while in the Supreme Court.”
