NJC suspends three judges for one yr over misconduct, bars them from promotion

News

By Linda Ikeji
5 November 2026, 6:27 am

The National Judicial Council, NJC, has suspended three judicial officers for one yr with out pay and issued cautions to eight others over alleged misconduct, together with illegal detention of litigants, abuse of judicial authority, and violations of due course of.

The choices had been reached on the Council’s 112th assembly, held on November 3, 2026, below the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.

The NJC additionally accepted the issuance of warning letters to 3 judges following investigations into petitions regarding their conduct of judicial proceedings.

Channels TV experiences that the affected judicial officers suspended for one yr embody Justice Hannatu Mohammed Kabir of the Nasarawa State High Court, Grand Kadi Mohammed Sani Salihu of the Jigawa State Sharia Court of Appeal and Justice Sobere Biambo of the Rivers State High Court.

The report states that Justice Kabir was suspended for ordering the arrest and detention of a litigant for 58 days over alleged disobedience of a courtroom order with out initiating correct contempt proceedings or serving the necessary Forms 48 and 49. The Council additionally barred her from nomination for elevation for 3 years, holding that her motion violated the litigant’s proper to honest listening to.

Grand Kadi Salihu was suspended over his involvement in reopening a judgment delivered by the FCT Upper Area Court. The investigation discovered that he exceeded his authority by constituting a committee to overview the judgment and subsequently assigning the matter to a different choose, who acquired contemporary proof and delivered a brand new judgment. The course of was held to quantity to an enchantment in opposition to a legitimate judgment of a courtroom of competent jurisdiction.

Justice Biambo, on his half, was sanctioned for ordering the arrest of litigants and imposing fines of N300,000 every in a civil dispute with out correct contempt proceedings or service of the prescribed varieties. Both males had been additionally barred from elevation for 3 years.

The report additional talked about that the Council additionally cautioned Justice Kayode Agunloye of the FCT High Court over his dealing with of post-judgment garnishee proceedings in a go well with involving First Bank of Nigeria Plc. It discovered that he granted a contemporary ex parte utility for a Garnishee Order Nisi after an earlier related utility had been withdrawn and struck out, whereas different pending functions, together with an utility for keep of execution, had been awaiting listening to.

In a separate set of disciplinary choices, the NJC accepted warnings and cautions for different judicial officers, together with Justice Bello Kawu, who granted interim bail to former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, regardless of an current remand order issued by one other choose. Justices Danjuma Oyigbenu and Isa Ebini Kana had been additionally issued warning letters for delivering judgment in an enchantment outdoors the constitutionally prescribed 90-day interval.

Others cautioned or positioned on the Council’s Watch List embody Justice Mohammed Zubairu of the FCT High Court for making orders after being knowledgeable that an enchantment had been entered on the Court of Appeal; Justice C. A. Ogbuagor of the Enugu State High Court for persevering with proceedings regardless of a pending enchantment and utility for keep; and Justice Chibuike Azuama of the Imo State High Court for granting an ex parte garnishee order freezing the accounts of Puma Energy, an organization that was not a celebration to the substantive go well with. The NJC additionally thought-about 35 petitions from its Preliminary Complaints Assessment Committees, dismissing 24 for lack of advantage, recommending 4 for additional investigation and putting one in abeyance as a result of it was sub judice.

It additional directed that investigations ought to proceed right into a petition in opposition to Justice G. N. Ugbala of the Ebonyi State High Court regardless of the petitioner’s discover of withdrawal.