Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

…Considers Salami’s fate today

The National Judicial Council, NJC, Wednesday threw out the list submitted by the Osun State Government for the nomination of a new Chief Judge of the state.

In its place, the NJC, asked for a new list of judges based on seniority for its consideration, a development that may further prolong the emergence of a new judiciary head for the state.

NJC may have thrown Osun State Judiciary into confusion, following its decision to step down the consideration of the state’s nominees for appointment as the substantive chief judge (CJ) for the state.

A source at the meeting told Vanguard last night that the council stepped down the list of nominees from the state on the grounds that there was confusion over who should be named as the CJ from the list sent in by the Osun State Judicial Service Commission.

The commission had forwarded the names of Justices Bola  Ojo, said to be the most senior judge in the state; Gloria Olagoke, who presides over the state’s Customary Court of Appeal and Joseph Oyewole, a native of Osun but a judge of the Lagos High Court in Ikeja, to the NJC to pick one of them as the next CJ.

The incumbent CJ, Olaniyi Ojo is due for retirement on November 8, 2012.

The source added that the fate of the suspended President, Court of Appeal, PCA, Justice Ayo Salami would be addressed by the NJC today.