Nigeria, April 12 -- Do judicial officers take the authority of the National Judicial Council (NJC) seriously? This is one of the many questions raised by an update the NJC recently sent to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai on his petition against Justice RM Aikawa of the Federal High Court.

In black and white, the NJC explained, in a letter dated 24 March, that it forwarded a copy of El-Rufai's petition to Justice Aikawa on 21 March 2025. When it received a reminder letter from El-Rufai on the matter in November 2025, the NJC realised that Justice Aikawa had not responded to its March 2025 letter. This prompted the NJC to write to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court on the matter. The NJC said that it received Justice Aikawa's response on 15 ...