Two judges have been recommended for immediate compulsory retirement by The National Judicial Council (NJC) for falsification of their ages and withholding of judgment.

In a statement signed by the NJC's , spokesman, Soji Oye, it identified the judges in question as the Acting President of the Customary Court of Appeal Imo State, Chukwuma Francis Abosi and a judge of the Bauchi State High Court, Aliyu Musa Liman.

Abosi was said to have manipulated his date of birth from 1950 to 1958 to beat his actual retirement year of 2015 when he originally attained the mandatory retirement age of 65 years.

Liman, on the other hand, was said to have withheld judgment in a case, marked: BA/100/210 between Abubakar Isa and Sheik Tahir Usman Bauchi, for almost four years, as against the three-month period provided by the Constitution.

The NJC held a meetings on April 22 and 23, 2020 which comprised of a 10-member committee to work out ways counts could safely conduct proceedings despite the current lockdown and other measures put in place contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.

Also at the meeting, the NJC recommended the appointment of 70 new judges for both Federal and state courts as President of Court of Appeal, Grand Kadis, President, Customary Court of Appeal and Judges of High Court of States and the Federal Capital Territory and Kadis of States Sharia Courts of Appeal.

The NJC equally referred eight lawyers to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for prosecution in relation to allegations of professional misconduct.

On Justices Abosi and Liman, the statement said: “Hon. Justice Francis Chukwuma 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.

“Hon. Justice Aliyu 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 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.

“Meanwhile, the National Judicial Council, in the exercise of its disciplinary powers under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, has suspended Hon. Justice Francis Chukwuma Abosi and Hon. Justice Aliyu Musa Liman from office pending the approval of the recommendation of the Council for his compulsory retirement to their respective state Governors.

“Petitions against the following Judicial Officers; Hon. Justice O. A. Musa of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Hon. Justices Muhammed A. Sambo and Sa’ad Ibrahim Zadawa of the High Court of Justice, Bauchi State were dismissed for either lacking in merit or being subjudice.”

During the meeting of the 10-man committee, Oye gave the name of other members to include Justices M. B. Dongban-Mensem (acting President of the Court of Appeal), J. T. Tsoho (Chief Judge, Federal High Court), B. B. Kanyip (President, National Industrial Court of Nigeria), Ishaq Bello (Chief Judge, High Court of the Federal Capital Territory), Kashim Zannah (Chief Judge, Borno State) and O. A. Ojo.

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Paul Usoro (SAN). His predecessor, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Damian Dodo.

Oye added that the committee is tasked with the responsibility of coming up “with urgent practical strategic measures to be put in place in order to ensure courts continue to function despite the lockdown and COVID-19 challenges.

“The committee, inter-alia, has the following terms of reference: *To come up with guidelines or template for implementation:

*To explore possible areas of collaboration between the Judiciary and the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, stakeholders in the justice administration and development partners in justice administration sector; and

*Any other measures that the committee may deem fit in realising these objectives.”