Buhari mourns Justice Ngwuta
President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with the family of the Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who died on Sunday in Abuja. Buhari, in a statement by his media assistant Garba Shehu, said the Supreme Court judge was “dedicated” and his passing would leave a gap in the apex court.
Ngwuta was meant to officially retire on March 30, when he would have clocked 70 years.
He was said to fallen and spent the last one week at the National Hospital, Abuja. The former justice was later
“moved to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital on Friday, March 5,” said Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Hadiza Mustapha.
Justice Ngwuta was appointed to the Supreme Court on March 22, 2011. Born March 30, 1951, Ngwuta was read law at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) lle-Ife, graduating in 1977.
Ngwuta was one of the judges whose homes the Department of State Security (DSS) raided in 2016.
He was subsequently charged with money laundering and failure to declare his assets.
But, the Federal High Court struck out the case in 2018, on the basis that any allegedly erring serving judicial officer must first have been investigated by the National Judicial Council (NJC).