A former Supreme Court Justice, Uwani Musa Abba-Aji, has disclosed how corruption allegations against her during her judicial career led to repeated visits to the Lagos office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
She shared the experience on Friday at a special valedictory session organised in her honour at the Supreme Court complex, where she recounted some of the difficult moments she faced while serving in the judiciary.
Abba-Aji traced the incident to 2016, when she was attending a programme in Washington DC, United States. She said the then President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, contacted her about a petition against her which had been forwarded by the EFCC through the office of the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed.
According to her, she was subsequently asked to report in Lagos to answer questions relating to the allegations, an experience she said she initially did not realise would become so demanding.
“I did not grasp the weight of what was coming until I became a regular visitor at the EFCC office in Lagos, answering questions about allegations of corruption I knew nothing about,” she recalled.
The retired judge said investigations eventually established her innocence, but the period was particularly distressing because her position on the bench restricted her from publicly addressing the accusations and negative reports surrounding her.
She said she turned to Allah for strength during the difficult period, adding that her eventual exoneration cleared the path for her appointment to the Supreme Court.
Abba-Aji also spoke about a travel restriction imposed by the United States on her and other members of a judicial panel over one of their judgments, lamenting that the ban was still in effect. She described the inconvenience as a price worth paying to protect the integrity of the judiciary.
Meanwhile, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, commended the retiring jurist, observing that her contributions to the judiciary went beyond the offices she occupied and the years she spent in service.
Kekere-Ekun urged her to continue sharing her knowledge, mentoring younger judicial officers and contributing to the development of the country after retirement.
