CLAIM: Nigerian Supreme Court justices placed under US visa ban

Retiring Supreme Court Justice Uwani Abba-Aji disclosed at her valedictory session that members of a Supreme Court panel are under a US visa ban over a judgment she said was widely misinterpreted, which Vanguard understands to be the 2020 Imo governorship ruling.

A retiring Supreme Court justice, Uwani Abba-Aji, has disclosed that some justices of the court have been placed on a visa ban by the United States, Vanguard reports.

Speaking at her valedictory session on Friday, Justice 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 members of the panel, a ban which still holds today.” She added: “Such inconveniences were a small price to pay to preserve the chastity of justice.”

She did not name the case. Vanguard understands it was connected to the 2019 Imo State governorship election dispute, in which a seven-member panel on January 14, 2020, nullified the election of PDP candidate Emeka Ihedioha and ordered the swearing-in of APC candidate Hope Uzodimma, who had finished fourth.

Justice Centus Nweze dissented, warning: “This decision of the Supreme Court will continue to haunt our electoral jurisprudence for a long time to come.”