Judges
A retiring justice of Nigeria’s Supreme Court has disclosed that seven members of a panel of the apex court remain under a United States travel ban linked to a controversial judgment the panel delivered years ago.
Justice Uwani Musa Abba Aji made the revelation on Friday during a valedictory court session held in her honour at the Supreme Court in Abuja. She is retiring upon reaching the mandatory age of 70.
“My time on the Supreme Court bench was filled with challenges, some of which have served as additional opportunities to stand firm on the side of justice, regardless of the consequences,” Abba Aji said. “One of such challenging judgments was widely misinterpreted and led to a travel ban to the United States of America being imposed on all the members of the panel, a ban which still stands till today.”
She described the restriction as one of the personal inconveniences and sacrifices judicial officers sometimes face in the course of upholding the integrity of justice. “Such inconveniences were a price to pay to preserve the chastity of justice,” she added.
Abba Aji did not name the specific judgment. Multiple Nigerian media outlets have linked the disclosure to the Supreme Court’s January 14, 2020, decision in the Imo State governorship election dispute. In that ruling, a seven-member panel nullified the election of Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declared Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner. The panel, led by then-Chief Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, included Abba Aji, current Chief Justice of Nigeria Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, and other justices. The decision, which relied on results from previously excluded polling units, generated widespread controversy and criticism.
Former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke alleged in 2023 that the justices involved in the Imo ruling had been denied U.S. visas when they sought to attend a judicial conference in the United States, while members of their entourage received visas. Some civil society groups had earlier called for sanctions against the panel.
Abba Aji also reflected on other challenges during her career, including a 2016 incident in which she was summoned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over a petition while attending a programme in Washington, D.C. She said she was later exonerated.
Neither the U.S. government nor the Nigerian Supreme Court has issued an official public statement confirming or detailing the travel restrictions in response to Abba Aji’s remarks. The disclosure has drawn attention to the personal costs sometimes associated with high-profile judicial decisions in Nigeria’s electoral and political landscape.
Justice Abba Aji, the first female judge from Yobe State and a senior figure on the apex court, formally retires today after decades of service in the judiciary.
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