THE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma
Mukhtar, on Monday, dropped a female justice, Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo, who was among
the 12 justices that were earlier approved by President Goodluck Jonathan for
elevation to the Court of Appeal bench.
This was as a result of an alleged
petition against her on the grounds that the state she represents is not her
state of origin.
The list which was earlier released
by the Supreme Court included Justice Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo, who was appointed a
High Court judge on November 4, 1998, following her call to the Bar in 1979,
and representing Abia state where she had served for many years after her
marriage to Mr Jombo- Ofo, an indigene of the state.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that a
petition was forwarded to the CJN alleging that Justice Jombo-Ofo did not
disclose her true state of origin.
She hails from Anambra State, but
after her marriage, she transferred her service from her home state to that of
her husband in Abia.
It was also gathered that the
governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji, wrote a letter to the Chief
Justice of Nigeria last Saturday confirming the indigenship of Justice
Jumbo-Ofo who had served in the state Judiciary for 14 years and also affirmed
that her name was indeed sent by the state government as one of the state’s
candidates for elevation to the appellate court.
Governor Orji urged the CJN to
disregard any spurious petition or allegation against her indigenship and swear
her in.
Those who were sworn in are
Justices Ibrahim S. Bdliya, Abiriya James Shehu, Obietonbara O. Daniel-Kalio,
Onyekachi Otisi and Stephen Jonah Adah.
Others are Justices Tinuade
Akomolaje-Wilson, Fatima Akinbami, Habeeb Adewale Abiru, Peter Olabisi
Ige, Tijani Abubakar and Emmanuel Agim .
It is recalled that Justice
Olufunlola Adekeye, on her retirement from the Supreme Court bench last
Wednesday, called on the National Judicial Council to review the policy that
married women cannot reach the peak of their career in their husbands’ states
of origin.