Just in: Olukayode Ariwoola may step in as CJN after Ibrahim Muhammad resignation

Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad has resigned as chief justice of Nigeria (CJN).

He reportedly resigned on the grounds of ill health.

There are indications that Olukayode Ariwoola, the next-highest ranking justice of the supreme court, will be named as interim chief justice of Nigeria.

The resignation by Tanko Muhammad, 68, is coming about 18 months to his retirement in December 2024, when he will clock 70.

His sudden exit also came at a time when his colleagues at the Supreme Court accused him of hampering their operations by failing to fund judges’ welfare as well as fueling of generators among others.

A leaked memo by 14 Justices of the Supreme Court protesting Muhammad’s handling of the operations of the court surfaced online last week.

Muhammad is leaving behind the crises enumerated in the letter by the Justices of the Supreme Court.

He is the second CJN in a row to abruptly exit office.
His predecessor, Walter Onnoghen, was controversially suspended by President Muhammad Buhari, in January 2019, and never returned to office until he was convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over charges of breach of codes of conduct for public officers.