HON. JUSTICE AISHA BASHIR
BRIEFS ON THE NASARAWA STATE JUDICIARY
The Nasarawa State Judiciary is the third arm of Nasarawa
State Government, the other two being the Executive and the Legislature. It comprises three Units, namely; the High
Court of Justice, the Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeal. It also has a regulatory/supervisory body
known as the Judicial Service Commission, which deals with the appointment,
promotion and disciplinary issues of the Judiciary.
The three units of the Judiciary, i.e. the High Court,
Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeal, though a single entity, yet function
disjunctively. Each Unit has it’s Head
of Court, thus – The Chief Judge as Head of High Court of Justice, presently
headed by the Hon. Justice Suleiman Umaru Dikko; the Grand Kadi as the Head of
Sharia Court of Appeal, presently headed by Hon. Kadi Abdullahi Mohammad; and
the President as Head of Customary Court of Appeal also presently headed by
Hon. Justice Jibril Idris. However,
there is no mistaking the fact that the Chief Judge is the Head of the
Judiciary and also the Chairman of the Judicial Service Commission.
While the Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeal are majorly
courts of second instances, i.e to say cases before them are those on appeal,
the High Court of Justice is a court of trial and appellate jurisdiction, i.e
it handles cases both on first trial and on appeals. The High Court of Justice has unlimited
jurisdiction over the subject matters and persons that it has jurisdiction
over.
For proper appreciation of the nature, functions and or
operations of the Nasarawa State Judiciary, it is most appropriate to look at
its constituent units.
A BRIEF PROFILE OF HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE, NASARAWA STATE
The Nasarawa State High Court, before October, 1996, formed
part of what was Plateau State High Court. With the creation of Nasarawa State
on 1st October, 1996, the State High Court was established. The pioneer Chief
Judge of the State was Hon. Justice Suleiman Galadima (now a Justice of the
Supreme Court of Nigeria).
The State High Court as already stated, has original and
appellate jurisdiction in both Civil and criminal matters. Its original
jurisdiction is provided for under Section 272(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
The State High Court hears and determines appeals from
decisions of Magistrates and Area Courts in all criminal matters. It also hears
and determines appeals from District Courts in all civil causes. In addition,
appeals from Area Courts in all civil causes other than customary or Islamic
personal law or causes, lie to the High Court.
A Panel of two or three Judges of the High Court is usually
constituted for the purpose of determining appeals from the lower courts
aforementioned. The High Court of the State has a single Judicial Division,
with five High Courts cited in Lafia, the State capital. For the purpose of
convenience to litigants, two High Courts, presided over by resident High Court Judges, are cited
at Keffi with the most senior judge as the assigning judge.
Similarly, there is one High Court Judge each at Akwanga
and Nasarawa, both of whom are also
resident judges. Noteworthy also is that
there are presently five High Courts at Mararraban Gurku with the most senior
as assigning judge. Administratively,
the High Court has six major Directorates; viz. Directorates of Personnel;
Magistrates’ and Area Courts’ Affairs; Litigation and Library Services;
Research, Planning and Statistics; Probate Matters and Finance. The Probate
Directorate was only recently established in November 2013 in order to ease the
problems associated with the processing of Letters of Administration, probate
and sundry matters in the State. Each of these Directorates, with the
exception of Finance, is headed by a Deputy Chief Registrar while the Chief
Registrar is the Administrative Head and Chief Accounting Officer of the High
Court.
As the name depicts, the Chief Judge is the Administrative
Head of all the judges and he centrally assigns cases to all courts in the
State. There are currently, twelve (12)
Judges, four of whom were only recently
sworn-in precisely on thursday the 24th of May, 2012. One of the Judges, Hon.
Justice Ridwan M. Maiwada was recently elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2014.
Since the inception of the Nasarawa State High Court, only three (3) High Court
Judges retired in office, to wit. – The
Hon. Justice A.Y. Ubangari OFR (erstwhile Chief Judge of the State); The Hon.
Justice Badamasi Maina (also erstwhile. Chief Judge of the State) and Hon.
Justice Isa A. Ramalan. Three Judges however, unfortunately passed on to glory
while in office – Hon. Justices Mohammed Ogbe, Haruna Loko and Abdullahi
Husseini Bahago.
A brief profile of the Judicial Officers of the High Court Judges are
as follows:
HON. JUSTICE AISHA M.
AHMED
Hon. Justice Ahmed was born 21st December, 1962 and was
called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986. She was appointed to the Public Service
sometime in 1988. She was a onetime
Permanent Secretary and Solicitor-General of the Ministry of Justice and served
as the Clerk of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly between 1999-2003. She joined the Bench on 13th February, 2003
when she was appointed as a Judge of the Nasarawa State High Court. She sits in High Court 3, Lafia
2.HON. JUSTICE JAMES
G. ABUNDAGA
Justice Abundaga was born on 5th June, 1961. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987 and
was appointed as a Magistrate in 1990.
He rose through the ranks to become the Deputy Chief Registrar
(Magistrates’ and Area Courts’ Affairs) and was appointed a High Court Judge of
Nasarawa State 13th February, 2003. He
presently sits in High Court 4, Lafia.
3. HON. JUSTICE SIMON
O. ABOKI
His Lordship was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984. He
Worked with various organizations. He established a Private Legal office as
Alpha Chambers and was in private practice until his appointment as the
Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Justice, Lafia in
1997-1999 and 2002 – 2008 respectively.
He was appointed a High Court Judge in 2008. He sits presently in High Court Karu.
4. HON. JUSTICE ROSE
G. SOJI
The Hon. Justice R.G. Soji was called to the Nigerian Bar in
1989. She served as a Counsel with
Theresa Obot & Co., in Jos as Counsel in private practice. She joined the Judiciary as a Magistrate and
rose to the rank of Deputy Chief Registrar at the Customary Court of Appeal,
Lafia. She was appointed as a High Court
Judge on the 2nd June, 2008. She sits at
the High Court of Justice Mararraban Gurku.
She is married with children.
5. HON. JUSTICE HARUNA A. OFFO
Justice Offo was called to the Bar on completion of his Law
School and passing the Call To Bar Examination in late 1988. Justice Offo engaged in private practice
before taking up appointment as a Magistrate with the Nasarawa State
Judiciary. He rose to the rank of Chief
Magistrate and was eventually appointed as the Executive Secretary of the
Nasarawa State Judicial Service Commission.
He was appointed as a Judge of the High Court on the 24th May, 2012.
6. HON. JUSTICE
DANIEL D. ADECK
Hon. Justice Daniel Danlami Adeck was born on 8th August,
1967. He attended the Tattara-Yeskwa
Primary School, Tattara; Government Secondary School Mangun, Plateau State and
then University of Jos, Plateau State, where he bagged an LL.B Certificate all
between 1973-1988. He then proceeded to
the Nigerian Law State and obtained his B.L and having passed the prescribed
examinations, he was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1989. He was a Counsel in private practice with
Ogwuche Akogwu & Co., Keffi, before taking up appointment with the Nasarawa
State House of Assembly as a Legislative Draftsman. He later joined the Judiciary as a Senior
Magistrate, rose through the rank to become a Deputy Chief Registrar and later
the Chief Registrar of High Court of Justice, Lafia in 2009. He was appointed a
Judge of High Court on 24th May, 2012.
7. HON. JUSTICE DANJUMA
A. OYIGBENU
His Lordship, Justice Oyigbenu was called to the Nigerian
Bar sometimes in 1990. As a promising
attorney, he engaged in both private and public practice of the legal
profession. He took up appointment as
Magistrate with the Nasarawa State Judiciary and rose to the rank of Chief
Magistrate. He was the Zonal Chief
Magistrate of the Lafia Zone prior to his appointment as a Judge of the High
Court of Justice on the 24th May, 2012.
8. HON. JUSTICE ASMA’U LARAI YUSUF
9. HON. JUSTICE ASMA’U LARAI YUSUF
PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF
THE HIGH COURT ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Sunday B. Bawa – Chief Registrar
Attended the Mary Knoll College, Igoli Ogoja, Cross Rivers
State between 1974-1979 and later the University of Jos, Plateau State between
1983-1987 to read Law. After graduation,
he went to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos between 1987-1988 and was called to
Bar sometime in 1988. He practiced as a
Counsel in Garba, Dashe & Co., a firm of Solicitors in Jos from 1989-1990,
then took up appointment with the Ministry of Justice, Jos, Plateau State from
1990-1994 as Senior State Counsel; was Legal Adviser to the Plateau State Board
of Internal Revenue, Jos from 1995-1996 and was deployed to Nasarawa State
Ministry of Justice was the State was created as Principal State Counsel from
1966-2000. He rose to the rank of Director of Legal Drafting before he later
transferred to the High Court of Justice as a Deputy Chief Registrar
(litigation and Library Services). He
served in the others Directorates of Magistrates’ and Area Courts’ Affairs,
Personnel until his recent appointment as the Acting Chief Registrar of the
High Court. He is married with four
children.
Barr. Thomas G. Ebuga – DCR (Personnel).
Barr. Abdulmumuni Ramat Mustapha DCR (Magistrates’ and Area
Courts Affairs).
Barr.
Ahmed Abdullahi Sani DCR (Litigation and Library Services).
Barr. Edward Liman
Ali DCR (Research and Planning)
–
Barr. Ibrahim
Suleiman Galadima, DCR (Probate).
Tanko Arikya, Ag. DFA
Bilatus Akku Makama,
Director Administration.
Enoch A. Maku,
Director Information and Protocol.
THE SHARIA COURT OF APPEAL
Headed by a Grand Kadi, who sits with two other Kadis, the
court has in all four Kadis and it deals with Islamic personal matters on
appeal. The court is still operating in
a temporary rented structure situate at the Low Cost Housing Estate, along
Shendam Road, Lafia.
It is pertinent to state that when the State was created,
the Sharia Court of Appeal of Nasarawa inherited only one Kadi from the
erstwhile Plateau State – Hon. Kadi Lawal Musa Nagogo (now the Oriye Rindere of
Wamba). The court could not take off
immediately because of the lack of quorum.
The pioneer Kadi, (Kadi Nagogo) later became the Grand Kadi on
appointment of more Kadis, in the persons of Hon. Kadi Abdullahi Muhammad, Hon.
Kadi Zakariya Yusuf Abdullahi (Late d. 25th August, 2009); and Hon. Kadi
Muhammad Alhassan (Late d. 5th May, 2015 ).
Unfortunately again, no sooner had the court resumed sitting
than it relapsed into a state of inactivity for want of quorum. This is due to the retirement of the then
Grand Kadi – Hon. Kadi Lawal Musa Nagogo (who was selected as the Oriye Rindere
of Wamba) and the death of Hon. Kadi Zachariah.
With the recent appointment of two more Kadis, the court has now resumed
sitting.
The Sharia Court of Appeal now has the following Judicial
and Principal Officers
Judicial Officers:
Hon. Kadi Abdullahi Muhammad
– Grand Kadi
Hon. Kadi Yusufu Bahago Abubakar II– Kadi
Hon. Kadi Y. U. Muhammad – Kadi
Hon. Aliyu Ibrahim – Kadi
Principal Officers:
Barr. Isa E. Kana – Chief Registrar
Barr. Abdullahi Ozegya
– – Deputy Chief Registrar (Personnel)
Barr. Lawal Hussaini
Deputy Chief Registrar (Litigation and Library Services)
Barr. Muhammed A. Tiga, Deputy Chief Registrar (Research
& Planning).
Isaac Abu Ishaq, Head Finance & Accounts.
THE CUSTOMARY COURT
OF APPEAL
As with the Sharia Court, so with the Customary Court of
Appeal in the sense that it deals mostly on matters of customary nature and
sits as a court of second instance. It
is headed by the Hon. President who sits with three other Judges.
When Nasarawa State was created in 1996, there was only one
Customary Court of Appeal Judge who was deployed from Plateau State. He was then the Hon. President for Plateau
and Benue States in the person of Hon. Justice Yusufu Yakubu (deceased). He became the pioneer President of the
Nasarawa State Customary Court of Appeal. He retired as President of the
Customary Court of Appeal and died in 2014.
Later, other Judges were appointed to form a quorum to
enable the Customary Court of Appeal take off properly. Presently, the Customary Court of Appeal,
Lafia has the following judicial and principal officers:
Judicial Officers:
Hon. Justice Jibril Idrisu. – President
Hon. Justice Joshua D. Alaku – Judge
Hon. Justice Emmanuel Osagede – Judge
Principal Officers:
Barr. Josiah Kurape Kpangyiko – Chief Registrar
Barr. Godwin E.
Akwe – Deputy Chief Registrar (Research
& Planning).
Barr. Rabo Ayaga, DCR
(Litigation).
Emmanuel A. Auta – Director of Finance & Accounts.
THE JUDICIAL SERVICE
COMMISSION
Members of the Commission:
Hon. Justice Suleiman U. Dikko – Hon. Chief Judge/Chairman
Hon. Kadi Muhammad Abdullahi – Hon. Grand Kadi/Member
Hon. Justice Jibril Idrisu – Hon. President/Member
Hon. Attorney General and Comm. For Justice/Member.
Hussein Musa, Esq.
(Member).
Hussaini Yakubu Akuki, Esq. (Member).
Sule Oga (Member).
Anthony Magson Zarmo (Member).
Hannatu Muhammad Kabir (Executive Secretary).