The National Judicial Council (NJC) has reacted to the shortlist of 22 justices by the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) for the bench of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

NJC said it is not aware of the shortlist. This was revealed by NJC Director of Information, Barrister Soji Oye.

Oye said that the nomination has not been brought to his knowledge. The FJSC reportedly sent a list of 22 justices from the Court of Appeal for consideration by the NJC for elevation to the apex court.

The FJSC list, released on Thursday, showed a regional distribution of nominees, with North-Central and South East each having six nominees, and North-East, South-West, and South-South each having two nominees, while North-West has four nominees.

This announcement followed the disclosure in September 2023 that the Supreme Court’s justices had diminished to 10 as against the 21 stipulated by the Constitution.