The United State (US) government has allegedly issued a visa ban on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, alongside Musa Dattijo Mohammed, Centus Nweze, and Justice Kudirat Kekere Ekun of the Supreme Court of Nigeria over the delivery of controversial and inciting judgments. It was reported that the embattled Supreme Court justices got wind of their ban to enter the US after they were denied entry to the country to attend a seminar. It was alleged by a ranking official of the apex court that their ban was connected to alleged questionable judgments they gave, including the controversial judgment that made Senator Hope Uzodinma governor of Imo State in 2020, as well as the judgments that recognized Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his predecessor Senator Ahmed Lawan as winners of their senatorial elections.
The source who pleaded anonymity revealed that Justice Ekun was the first to be informed of her visa ban. The source stated that the ban has become a burden on the Justices of the Supreme Court.
The source said, “And that signals the Justices have received indicate that the U.K and the European Union have been asked to consider the actions taken by the U.S authority.”
The source added that the judgments involving Uzodimma, Akpabio, and Lawan, generated controversies within the polity, and “some other cases were considered to be a rape on democracy and the rule of law.”
Recall that Uzodimma who came fourth in the 2019 governorship election was controversially declared the winner of the election by the Supreme Court.
In the case of Lawan and Akpabio, the Supreme Court ruled, in separate judgments, that both senators, who didn’t participate in their party’s (All Progressives Congress) primary election are the party’s senatorial candidates. Lawan and Akpabio were presidential aspirants at the time the party held primaries for their senatorial districts which legally ruled them out of the senatorial contest. While they both stepped down for Bola Tinubu who later won the presidential ticket, senatorial candidates had emerged from their senatorial zones to represent the party in the election.