The Presidential Election Petition Court began its sitting in Abuja last Monday.
It marked the unveiling of five members of the court panel to the public.
The panel comprises five judges drawn from various divisions of the Court of Appeal.
They are:
*Haruna Tsammani, presiding justice of Abuja Division (63)
*Stephen Adah, presiding justice, Asaba Division (65)
*Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf, Asaba Division (63)
*Moses Ugo, Kano Division (57)
*Abba Mohammed, Ibadan Division (62)
Read below 14 quick points to note about them:
1. There is only one female among them.
2. Two of them are presiding justices of divisions of the Court of Appeal.
3. Three of them are graduates of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, one from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, and the other of the University of Calabar, Calabar.
4. Four of them were born before the Independence, while only one of them was born post-Independence.
5. All five judges attended the Lagos campus of the Nigerian Law School.
6. Some of them have connections to high-profile cases involving the illegal removal of former Governor Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo State; former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen; IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu; outgoing Governor of Kano State, Ganduje, renaming of UNILAG, police women’s right, Okada ban in Lagos, former PDP spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, other corruption cases, VAT, etc
7. They are all participating in a presidential election petition court for the first time.
8. Their legal careers have spanned between 39 and 41 years.
9. They have been judges for 13 to 24 years.
10. They have served as Justices of the Court of Appeal for two to 12 years.
11. They hold between the 12th and 71st positions in the seniority list of 76 Justices of the Court of Appeal.
12. They are drawn from five of the six geo-political regions of Nigeria – South-west, South-south, North-west, North-East and North-central.
13. Some have made headlines, while others have only little reported about them in the media.
14. They have up to September to deliver their judgement, and a displeased party can still appeal to the Supreme Court.
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