The Punch reports that the number of justices of the Supreme Court will further drop from its current 16 to 15 as one of them, Justice Muhammad Muntaka-Coomasie, will retire on February 13, 2016.
With the retirement of Justice John Fabiyi on November 25, 2015, the number of the apex court justices had dropped to 16 from 17.
Barely one year before Justice Fabiyi’s retirement, the number of apex court justices had fallen to 16 with the retirement of the immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mukhtar (retd.), on November 20, 2014.
Muntaka-Coomasie, who is number four on the order of seniority of the Supreme Court justices, will retire from the bench on February 13, his 70th birthday.
According to Punch, his birthday is not stated in his bio on the apex court’s website, but our correspondent learnt that he was born on February 13, 1946.
Prior to joining the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2008, Muntaka-Commasie was a justice of the Court of Appeal, and served in the Port Harcourt, Jos, Abuja, Ilorin, and Benin divisions.