Meet the 5 Justices who gave Apc’s Oyetola victory at the Supreme Court –

The Supreme Court, in a majority decision read by Justice Olabode Rodes-Vivour, this morning held that the failure of a member of the election tribunal, Justice Peter Obiora to sit on February 6, 2019 rendered the entire proceedings and the judgment given by the tribunal a nullity.

In the majority ruling, Acting CJN, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, Justice Rhodes-Vivour, Justice Kekere-Ekun, Justice Sanusi and Justice Abaaji consented to the majority judgment dismissing PDP’s appeals on Osun election. Justices Akaahs and Galinje dissented.

Below are profiles of the 5 Justices who upheld APC’s Gboyega Oyetola’s victory:

Acting CJ Tanko Muhammad

Justice Muhammad Tanko probably needs no introduction. He was sworn in as Acting Chief Judge by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier this year on January 25.

He was formerly a Justice of the Nigerian courts of appeal.

Tanko began his career in 1982, after he was Called to the bar in 1981, the same year he graduated from the Nigerian Law School. In 1989, he was appointed as Chief Magistrate of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, a position he held until 1991 when he became a Judge at the Bauchi State Sharia Court of Appeal. He served in that capacity for two years before he was appointed to the bench of the Nigerian courts of appeal as Justice in 1993. He held this position for thirteen years before he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2006 but was sworn in on January 7, 2007.

Justice Rhodes-Vivour

Justice Rhodes-Vivour is a justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

In 1975, he joined the Lagos State Judiciary as State Counsel and later rose to the position of Director of Public Prosecutions in 1989, he held this position for five years before he was appointed as High Court Judge in 1994 and after eleven years of services in the Judiciary, he was appointed to the bench of the Nigerian courts of appeal as Justice in 2005. On August 2010, he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Nigeria as Justice, along with Justice Suleiman Galadima.

Justice Kekere-Ekun

Justice Kekere-Ekun is a justice of the Supreme court of Nigeria.

Justice Kudirat joined the Lagos State Judiciary as Senior Magistrate II and rose to the position of the State High Court Judge. She served as Chairman of Robbery and Firearms Tribunal, Zone II, Ikeja between November 1996 to May 1999. She was appointed to the bench of the Nigerian courts of appeal in 2004 before her appointment as Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in July 2013.

Justice Sanusi

Justice Sanusi was a judge in Katsina State between 1990 to 1998, before being commissioned to the Court of Appeal. Amiru Sanusi was sworn in by the former Chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Mahmud Mohammed in May 2015.

Justice Uwani Abba Aji

After 14 years at the Court of Appeal, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Hon. Justice Uwani Musa Abba Aji as a justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria last year. The Yobe state born judge is the seventh woman appointed to the apex court and second from the North East after the retired Clara Bata Ogunbiyi (Borno State).

The first female justice of the Supreme Court it might interest you to know was Aloma Mariam Mukhtar who was sworn in as the first female justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2005.