The Acting President of Customary Court of Appeal, Francis Chukwuma Abosi, and a Bauchi State High Court Judge, Aliyu Musa Liman, have both been suspended by the National Judicial Council (NJC) owing to judicial misconduct.
Compulsory retirement was recommended by the NJC for Liman after failing to deliver judgment in a case that lasted above four years while Abosi was recommended for compulsory retirement for falsifying his date of birth.
Both Judges have been suspended pending their State Governors endorsement of the recommendation for their compulsory retirement.
A statement issued by NJC’s Director of Information, Soji Oye, reads: “Abosi was recommended for compulsory retirement following the falsification of his date of birth from 1950 to 1958.
“Findings showed that he was supposed to have retired in November 2015 when he clocked the mandatory retirement age of Sixty five (65) years.
“Council decided to recommend for his compulsory retirement to governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State and to also deduct the salaries he had earned from November 2015 to date from his retirement benefit.
“Musa Liman was recommended to the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed for compulsory retirement pursuant to the findings by the council for his failure to deliver judgement in suit No BA/100/2010, between Abubakar Isa and Sheik Tahir Usman Bauchi within the three months period stipulated by the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.
“Council viewed his lordship’s failure to deliver judgement for nearly four years as a misconduct, contrary to section 292 (1)(b) of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended and rules 1.3 and 3.7 of the 2016 revised code of conduct for judicial officers of the federal republic of Nigeria.”
