Supreme Court Holds Valedictory For Justice Dattijo, Oct. 27
A valedictory court session will be held in honour of a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad who retires from the Supreme Court Bench on Friday, October 27, 2023 having attained the mandatory statutory retirement age of 70 years.
According to a statement released on Sunday by the Director of Press and Information of the Supreme Court, Dr Festus Akande, the valedictory court session in honour of the retired Justice will hold at the Main Courtroom of the Supreme Court on a date to be fixed later.
The release further stated that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, will preside over the special court session and pay tribute to Justice Musa Dattijo, alongside other prominent figures in the nation’s justice sector.
Born on Tuesday, October 27, 1953, in Minna, Justice Dattijo hails from Chanchaga Local Government Area of Niger State.
He attended Native Primary School, Minna, from 1960 to 1966, obtaining his First School Leaving Certificate. Between 1967 and 1971, he pursued his education at Sheikh Sabbah College (now Sardauna Memorial Secondary School) in Kaduna.
After his secondary education, he commenced his Pre-Degree program at Abdullahi Bayero College, Kano, which facilitated his direct entry into the Faculty of Law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained his Law degree in 1977. He was called to the Nigerian Bar on July 2, 1977.
In order to upgrade his academic achievements, he pursued an LLM Degree at Warwick University in 1982, which he successfully obtained in 1983. He was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court on July 10, 2012.
Before Justice Dattijo was sworn in as Justice of the Supreme Court, he was elevated from the Niger State Judiciary to the Court of Appeal on November 21, 1998, and served with distinction in various Divisions.
Justice Dattijo’s elevation to the Court of Appeal was a testament to his diligence, passion for his profession, commitment to his duties, and most importantly, his unwavering adherence to the law in its truest form in all cases presented before him.
With the retirement of Justice Dattijo Muhammad this week, the Supreme Court of Nigeria will now be left with ten Justices.
Meanwhile, Justice Dattijo was last week named as a member of panel of Justices to hear the appeals of Peter Obi of Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party and the Allied Peoples Movement challenging the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court which threw out their petitions against the election of Tinubu in February 25 presidential election.
Currently, the Supreme Court Justices are 11 and with the retirement of Justice Dattijo the number will reduce to 10.
However, there are indications that the court will soon have its full complement of 21 justices, as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola is desirous to fast-track the process of appointing 11 new Justices.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria has already called for nominations from the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and heads of courts to fill the shortage of Justices caused as a result of retirements and deaths of some Supreme Court Justices.
He said the National Judicial Council (NJC) is committed to ensuring that the selection process is transparent and fair, adding that the process is expected to be completed before the end of next month because of the urgency and given the fact about the state of affairs at the Supreme Court.
The CJN noted that the situation is very critical for the Nigerian judiciary, saying that it is imperative to ensure the appointment of these 11 new justices as soon as possible to ensure that justice is served and uphold the rule of law.
