CJN removes 2 Supreme Court justices in Imo State

TWO members of the Supreme Court panel hearing an appeal filed by Governor Rochas Okorocha on his electoral victory, have been removed from the panel by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar.

The two justices of the apex court are Justices Muhammad Muntaka Coomasie and Suleiman Galadima.

The convocation of a panel for the hearing of the appeal had been dogged with controversy that saw the CJN disbanding the first panel headed by Justice WalterNkanu Onnoghen, following complaints of bias by the governor against the justices on the panel.

Justice Mukhtar subsequently replaced the panel with a new one headed by Justice Coomasie, with Galadima and Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammed as members among others.

Another petition against the new panel by a group, Lawyers in Defense of Democracy (LIDD), alleging affinity between the governor and the affected justices, led to the CJN, changing the panel all over again.

A top source in the system confirmed that the fresh change was necessitated by evidence provided by the petitioners, especially a video-footage of one of the dropped justices dancing at the wedding ceremony of the governor’s daughter.