Justice Tanko Mohammed has resigned from his position as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Mohammed resigned in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari swore in Mohammed as the acting CJN in January 2019 following the suspension and later sack of former CJN Walter Onnoghen.
CJN’s Special Assistant on Media, Isah Ahuraka, confirmed his resignation to the News Agency of Nigeria.
Justice Olukayode Ariwoola is the next most senior judge to Justice Mohammed following Justice Mary Odili retired on May 12 after attaining the retirement age of 70. He is expected to be sworn in as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria.
Mohammed’s resignation comes amid the corruption allegations leveled against him by some Supreme Court judges.
Fourteen Supreme Court judges in a protest memo accused Mohammed of not giving justices their legitimate entitlements.
The justices said their annual foreign training, meant to enhance capacity building for the country’s judicial process, had been blocked by Muhammad.
The main issues put forward by the justices in their letter through a welfare committee were: non-replacement of poor vehicles; accommodation problem; lack of drugs at the Supreme Court clinic; epileptic electricity supply to the Supreme Court; increase in electricity tariff; no increase in the allowances for diesel; lack of internet services to residences and chambers.
In response, Mohammed told the judges that the Supreme Court was cash-strapped and cannot grant their requests.
CJN noted that the Supreme Court, like any other establishment in the country, has been hit by a devastating economic crunch.
As a result, he said the leadership of the court under him could no longer meet some of its obligations to Justices, especially in the area of welfare.
He, however, said that the memo sent to him by the aggrieved Justices, notwithstanding, there is no rift between him and Justices of the apex court.
