The Adamawa State Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has approved the appointment of 20 new judges to serve across the High Court, Sharia Court of Appeal, and Customary Court of Appeal in the state.
The new appointments are aimed at boosting judicial capacity, reducing case backlogs, and improving the efficiency of justice delivery within the state’s court system.
According to details released by the commission, 14 of the newly appointed judges will serve in the Adamawa State High Court.
They include Aliyu Bakari, Ibrahim Ulenda Musa, Daniel John, Aminu Sa’adu, Christie Ngbale Tarfa, Abdulrazak Adamu Abdullahi, and Mohammed Buba.
Others appointed to the High Court bench are Mohammed Hammajoda, Sadiq Giwa, Musa Mijinyawa Bala, Shehu Uthman Mustapha, Umar Isa, Yakubu Ahmadu, and Japhet Ibrahim.
In addition, the JSC appointed two judges to the Sharia Court of Appeal. They are Ishaq Abdullahi Jada and Abubakar Ishaku.
Four judges were also named to the Customary Court of Appeal in the state. Those appointed are Awamem Medan Fwa, Dimas Elshama Gwama, Deborah Umaru Peter, and David Benjamin Pembi.
The commission noted that the appointments are expected to ease the workload on serving judges, expand access to justice, and accelerate the resolution of cases across courts in Adamawa State.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Friday upheld the death sentences handed down to five men convicted for their roles in the 2018 Offa bank robbery, dismissing their appeals for lacking merit.
A court official who observed the proceedings disclosed that the appellate court rejected all the arguments raised by the convicts and ordered their immediate return to prison custody.
“The court dismissed all the grounds of appeal and affirmed their convictions. They have been taken back to prison,” the official confirmed.
While the convicts still have the option of approaching the Supreme Court, the official added that the submissions presented at the Court of Appeal were weak and unlikely to succeed if re-argued at the apex court.
Those whose death sentences were upheld are Ayoade Akinnibosun, Azeez Salahudeen, Niyi Ogundiran, Ibikunle Ogunleye, and Adeola Abraham.
They were found guilty of armed robbery, unlawful possession of firearms, and culpable homicide.
A sixth defendant, Michael Adikwu, a retired police officer, reportedly died in custody before the trial began.
The convictions arose from the coordinated bank robbery carried out in April 2018 in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, during which five commercial banks were attacked.
No fewer than 32 people, including nine police officers—two of them female—lost their lives in the incident, making it one of the deadliest bank robberies in Nigeria’s history.
Justice Haleemah Salman of the Kwara State High Court had earlier sentenced the five men to death by hanging after a trial that spanned nearly six years and attracted widespread public attention.
In her judgment, which lasted more than four hours, Justice Salman ruled that the prosecution successfully proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
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