The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola and six other Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria have been denied entry access to the United States of America by the US government over what was alleged to be ‘their delivery of controversial and inciting judgments’.
A US-based online portal Point Blank News exclusively reported that “besides Ariwoola, other Justices of the Supreme Court affected by the ban included Justices Musa Dattijo Mohammed, Centus Nweze and Justice Kudirat Kekere Ekun.
Point Blank News further reported that their ban was in connection to alleged distrustful judgements they delivered particularly the controversial judgment that made Senator Hope Uzodinma governor of Imo State in 2020 and the decisions of the apex court that gave recognition to the present and former Presidents of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio and Ahmed Lawan respectively as winners of the party primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) they did not participate in.
Senator Uzodimma, who came fourth in the 2019 governorship election was later declared winner of election by the Supreme Court while in the case of Lawan and Akpabio, the Supreme Court ruled, in separate judgements, that both senators were party’s candidates even when it was clear that they didn’t participate in All Progressives Congress senatorial primary election.
Lawan and Akpabio took part in the presidential ticket contest of the APC which legally ruled them out of the senatorial contest in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
While Akpabio stepped down for Bola Tinubu, who later won the presidential ticket, Ahmed Lawan came 4th in the primary at the time that senatorial candidates had emerged from their senatorial zones to represent the party in the 2023 elections.
Bashir Machina and Udom Ekpoudom won the primaries and emerged senatorial candidates for the Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West respectively but, their victories which were accorded recognition by both the High and Appeal courts were subsequently upturned by the Supreme Court to the chagri of many legal luminaries and Nigerians.
Point Blank News learnt that the affected Supreme Court justices only became aware of their ban to enter the US when they were denied access to the country to attend a seminar.
A ranking Supreme Court official who pleaded anonymity, confided in Point Blank News that Justice Ekun was the first to be informed of her visa ban.
The source stressed that the ban has become a serious burden on Justices of the Supreme Court.
According to the source; “And that signals the Justices received, indicate that the U.K and the European Union have been asked to consider same action by the U.S authority.”
The source noted that the judgements in the cases involving Uzodimma, Akpabio and Lawan, which raised so much upset within the polity and “some other cases were considered to be against democracy and rule of law”.
The Supreme Court in January 2020, upturned the election of Hon. Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as governor of Imo State and declared Senator Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state.
In the unanimous judgment of the seven-member panel, read by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the Supreme Court held that results in 388 polling units were unlawfully excluded during the collation of the governorship election result in Imo State.
Justice Kekere-Ekun said with the results from the 388 polling units added, Mr Uzodinma polled a majority of the lawful votes and ought to have been declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, the Justices of the Supreme Court did not provide the details of the new votes scored by each of the candidates after the addition of the results from the 388 polling units but went ahead and voided as well as set aside the declaration of Hon. lhedioha as the winner of the 2019 governorship election in Imo state.
The Supreme Court also ordered that the Certificate of Return wrongly or unlawfully issued to lhedioha be immediately withdrawn by INEC and a fresh one issued to Uzodinma as the elected governor of the state.
Similarly, the Supreme Court in February 2023, declared then Senate President, Ahmad Lawan as the authentic candidate of the APC for Yobe North Senatorial District for the February 25, 2023 general election.
The apex court in a three-against-two split judgement of its five-member panel led by Justice Centus Nweze, held that the decisions of the Federal High Court, Yobe and the Court of Appeal in Abuja “were perverse and must be set aside.”
The APC had challenged the judgements of the lower courts which affirmed Bashir Machina as the candidate of Yobe North Senatorial District for the election and urged the Supreme Court to nullify the two previous verdicts and legitimise APC’s National Working Committee’s forwarding of Lawan’s name to INEC as the flagbearer of the party for the poll.
In a related development, the Supreme Court in February declared Godswill Akpabio as the validly nominated candidate for Akwa-Ibom North-West senatorial seat for the February 25, 2023 election.
The ruling party had challenged the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which sacked Mr Akpabio as its candidate.
In Mr Akpabio’s place, the appellate court had on November 14, 2022 ordered INEC to recognise Udom Ekpoudom, a retired Deputy Inspector General of police, as the authentic candidate of the party.
Delivering the unanimous judgement of its five-member panel led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the Supreme Court held that the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal were wrong to have assumed jurisdiction in the suit since the issue of candidate nomination lies squarely with political parties.