From midnight today, 9 November 2016, the tenure of Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, will expire.
For the first time in Nigeria, many critics say there will be a vacuum at the apex of the Judiciary. In other words, there is no substantive CJ to take over from tomorrow..
When the term of a CJ is about to expire, the National Judicial Council would meet to send names of the next candidate to the President for transmission to the National Assembly.
The CJN fulfilled its own end of the bargain on 10 October when it sent the name of Justice Walter Onoggen to President Muhammadu Buhari. However, the National Assembly is yet to receive the nominee.
While Mahmud, the outgoing CJ is a northerner, Onnogen is from the South South.
The delay will no doubt raise controversies from tomorrow.
Justice Mohammed was born on November 10, 1946 in Jalingo, the capital of Taraba State, northeastern Nigeria. He obtained a Bachelor of Law degree at Ahmadu Bello University in 1970 and was called to the Nigerian bar, the same year he graduated from the Nigerian Law School.
He, according to Wikipedia, joined the services of the Ministries of Justice of the defunct North-eastern state as a barrister and in 1991, he became the acting Chief judge of Taraba State, the same year his appointment was confirmed as the Chief Judge of the state.
In 2005, he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Nigeria as Justice. In November 2014, he was appointed as the Chief Justice of Nigeria to succeed Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, the first female Justice of Nigeria. Justice Mahmud Mohammed is currently the Chairman of the National Judicial Council.
He will be 70 (retirement age) tomorrow, 10 November 2016