Following the resignation of Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola was on Monday sworn in by President Muhammadu Buhari as the acting chief justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Ariwoola is expected to serve in acting capacity until confirmation by the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the national assembly.
However, fresh questions have been raised over the credentials of Ariwoola, and particularly on the date which he began school.
The question is, was he – BORN IN 1958 AND STARTED SCHOOL IN 1959?
According to reports by TheCable, the new acting CJN was born in Iseyin, Oyo state, on August 22, 1958, information on the site of Supreme court reportedly said.
However, the date of birth has now been edited and deleted, replaced by “he was born over 60 years ago”.
The site said he began his primary education less than a year later in 1959 at the Local Authority Demonstration School, Oluwole, in his hometown. He would spend eight years in school before graduating in 1967.
He then moved to Muslim Modern School in the same town from 1968 to 1969 before graduating to Ansar-Ud-Deen high school, Saki area of Oyo, for secondary education.
He earned his law degree from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1980, and a year later he was called to the Nigerian bar and got enrolled as a solicitor and advocate of the supreme court.
REPORTEDLY ILL
Before Ariwoola was sworn into his new role, insiders within the apex court told TheCable that some northern justices were against his appointment on the grounds that the 63-year-old is allegedly battling health issues.
They alleged that the illness might affect Ariwoola’s performance as the leader of the supreme court just as it did the immediate past CJN.
The next in hierarchy to him, Musa Dattijo Muhammad, is also said to be very ill and had just returned from a surgery.
The nature of the ailments is not publicly known.
