Supreme court justice, Dattijo to retire Friday

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Nigeria’s apex court has announced the retirement of one of its’ justices, Musa Dattijo who will officially retire from the bench on Friday, October 27, 2023.

This was made known in a statement released yesterday by the spokesperson of the supreme court, Festus Akande who disclosed that a valedictory court session to be presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, would be held in his honour on Friday.

The statement read, “The valedictory court session to mark the retirement of justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad from the Supreme Court Bench comes up on Friday, 27th October, 2023 at the Main Courtroom of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

“The Special Court Session is to be presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, who will customarily, pay tribute to Justice Musa Dattijo alongside other major stakeholders in the nation’s justice sector.

“Justice Musa Dattijo who hails from Chanchaga Local Government Area of Niger State, was born on Tuesday, October 27, 1953, in Minna.

“He took the oath of office as Justice of the Supreme Court on Tuesday, 10th July 2012. His ascension to the Court of Appeal was more of a reward for hard work, inherent passion for his chosen profession, dedication to duty, and above all, a resolute application of the law in its true letters and words to all cases that came to him.

“He earned a well-deserved elevation to the Court of Appeal on 21st November 1998 from the Niger State Judiciary, and served meritoriously at different Divisions,” he stated.

Justice Musa Dattijo upon his retirement, would be rendering the Supreme court more understaffed with only 10 justices as against the 21 stipulated by Section 230(2) of the 1999 Constitution.

Born on October 27, 1953, Justice Dattijo hails from chanchaga in Minna local government area of Niger state, northern Nigeria.

The 68-year-old Justice started his early education in his hometown, Minna and acquired a pre-degree certificate from the Abdullahi Bayero college (now Bayero University) in Kano. He then moved to the Ahmadu Bello University (Faculty of Law), Zaria where he obtained a Law degree and thereafter, a BL at the Nigerian Law School in 1977.

Recall that Justice Amina Augie, an ex-justice of the supreme court had on September 22, 2023, retired from service while Justice Chima Nweze reportedly died on July 31, 2023, leaving the number of supreme court justices at 11 prior to Justice Dattijo’s.

The remaining ten justices of Nigeria’s supreme court include Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who is the Chief Justice of Nigeria since 2011. He was appointed by the then President Muhammadu Buhari and has remained in the position alongside Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun who was called to bar in 1981 after her graduation from the famous University of Lagos in southwestern Nigeria where she also started her career. She rose to the rank of a Supreme court judge on June 8, 2013.

Also, Justice John Inyang Okoro, Justice Uwani Musa Abba Aji was called to bar in 1981 after her graduation from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in 1980 and became a supreme court justice on January 8, 2019, having served at various positions including the Yobe State court of Appeal.

Others include Justice M. Lawal Garba, Justice Helen M. Ogunwumiju, Justice Abdu Aboki, Justice I. N. M. Saulawa, Justice Adamu Jauro, Justice Tijjani Abubakar and Justice Emmanuel A. Agim.