Nigeria's NJC suspends three judges for a year without pay and puts more on its watchlist
Nigeria's National Judicial Council has suspended three judicial officers for one year without pay, in decisions taken at its 112th meeting on 3 November 2026 under the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, and announced in a statement by the Council's Deputy Director of Information, Kemi Babalola-Ogedengbe. Justice Hannatu Mohammed Kabir of the Nasarawa State High Court was found to have detained a litigant for 58 days without proper contempt proceedings; Grand Kadi Mohammed Sani Salihu of the Jigawa State Sharia Court of Appeal was found to have exceeded his authority by reopening a judgment of an FCT Upper Area Court; and Justice Sobere Biambo of the Rivers State High Court was found to have issued bench warrants and fined litigants ₦300,000 each in a civil dispute without due process. Kabir and Biambo are also barred from elevation for three years. The Council also placed more judicial officers on its watchlist with warnings — reports differ on that group's total, and the difference is carried openly on this page — recommended 28 candidates for judicial appointment, and dismissed 24 petitions.
Checking in progress
This story is still being checked. Claims below are published as claims — never dressed as facts — and each one moves only when the evidence earns it.
- Collecting reportsDone
- Grouping the versionsDone
- 3Checking claims5 of 6 claims checked
- 4Human gateStill to come
5 of 6 claims checked so far · step 3 of 4: Checking claims
Key points
- Three judicial officers are suspended for one year without pay: Justice Hannatu Mohammed Kabir (Nasarawa), Grand Kadi Mohammed Sani Salihu (Jigawa) and Justice Sobere Biambo (Rivers) — Kabir and Biambo are also barred from elevation for three years.
- The findings: a litigant detained 58 days without contempt proceedings (Kabir); another court's judgment reopened beyond his authority (Salihu); bench warrants and ₦300,000 fines imposed in a civil dispute without due process (Biambo).
- More officers were warned, cautioned or placed on the Council's watchlist — including an FCT judge over bail granted to former Attorney-General Malami against a subsisting remand order — but reports differ on that group's total, so this page names the individuals.
- The same 112th meeting recommended 28 candidates for judicial appointment, dismissed 24 petitions and sent four for further investigation.
What happened
The National Judicial Council is Nigeria's constitutional disciplinary body for judicial officers: it investigates petitions against judges and can suspend, caution or recommend removal, and it recommends candidates for appointment to the higher courts. Its 112th meeting, chaired by the Chief Justice, worked through investigation reports and preliminary-complaint assessments covering dozens of petitions.
The three suspensions share one thread in the Council's own findings: process. In each case the committee held that a judge punished alleged contempt that happened outside the court's presence — or reached beyond their court's authority — without the mandatory steps (contempt proceedings, Forms 48 and 49) that protect a litigant's right to fair hearing. Two of the three cases turned on those exact forms.
The Council also directed its secretariat to ask the Imo State Judicial Service Commission to include the state's Acting Chief Judge, Justice Ijeoma Agugua, in the shortlist for substantive Chief Judge, after a petition challenged her exclusion.
Claim by claim
Why this label: The meeting, chair, statement signatory and headline decisions agree across Vanguard (read in full in this pass via live-browser recovery), Bar and Bench Watch and InsightWire (both read in full), and The Gavel — all reporting the NJC's own statement. The 28 appointments: 24 High Court judgeships across Kano, Ebonyi, Edo, Adamawa and Ogun, one Grand Kadi (Plateau), one Kadi (Adamawa) and two Customary Court of Appeal judges (Adamawa), per Bar and Bench Watch.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The Council's findings as stated in its statement, reported in the same terms by Vanguard, Bar and Bench Watch, InsightWire and The Gavel. These are the Council's disciplinary findings after its investigation — Justice Kabir's own response has not been published in the reporting read (see the don't-know list).
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The Council's findings as stated in its statement, in agreement across Vanguard, Bar and Bench Watch and InsightWire. No elevation bar for Salihu is stated in the reports read — the three-year bars attach to Kabir and Biambo — so none is asserted here.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Show all claims (3 more)
Why this label: The Council's findings as stated in its statement, in agreement across Vanguard, Bar and Bench Watch, InsightWire and The Gavel. Justice Biambo's own response has not been published in the reporting read.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The named cases and their grounds agree across Bar and Bench Watch and InsightWire (both read in full), with Vanguard's account of the Kawu and Agunloye cases in agreement. Justice C. A. Ogbuagor (Enugu) was also cautioned, per Bar and Bench Watch.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Carried openly rather than resolved silently: the difference may be one of counting (cautions vs warning letters vs watchlist placements), but Vozia has not read the statement on the NJC's own site, so the total stays unasserted until the Council's own publication settles it.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- The three suspensions, their one-year without-pay term and the Council's stated findings for each, from the NJC's own statement.
- The meeting (the Council's 112th), its date (3 November 2026) and its chair (Chief Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun).
- The same meeting recommended 28 appointment candidates, dismissed 24 petitions and referred four for further investigation.
What we don't know yet
- Any response from Justice Kabir, Grand Kadi Salihu or Justice Biambo — none had been published in the reporting read for this page.
- The exact total of the wider warned/cautioned/watchlist group — Vanguard counts six on the watchlist; Bar and Bench Watch's account reaches eight cautioned or warned; the Council's own published statement, which Vozia has not yet read on the NJC's site, would settle the count.
- When the suspensions take effect and whether any of the officers will challenge them.
Why it matters
Nigeria's courts decide everything from election petitions to land and liberty, and the NJC is the one body that can hold judges themselves to account. A sitting High Court judge detained a litigant for 58 days without the process the law requires, on the Council's own findings — the suspensions are the accountability system working in public, and the named watchlist cases (including one touching a former attorney-general's bail) show how widely the meeting reached.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
- Latest
Story published in Checking state from queue #1591. Basis: the NJC's statement (112th meeting, 3 November, chaired by the Chief Justice) read via Vanguard (live-browser recovery), Bar and Bench Watch and InsightWire in full, The Gavel in agreement. JUDGE AUDIT: (1) headline, slug, SEO title and summary state the same outcome — three suspended for a year without pay; the wider group is never given a single total in the headline or summary because the reports differ. (2) The Council's findings are labelled Verified as its findings — the decision and its stated grounds are the fact; no judge's guilt beyond the Council's own disciplinary process is asserted, and their unpublished responses sit in the don't-know list. (3) Every figure (58 days, ₦300,000, 28 appointments, 24 dismissals) is traced to the statement accounts. (6) Photo is a labelled file photo of a Nigerian federal court complex. No official video exists for this item in the channels checked.