After Court Acquittal, NJC Reinstates Judge

Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia has been reinstated as a judge of the Federal High Court by the National Judicial Council after over six years of legal battle with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

In a circular dated December 5 and seen by our correspondent, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court notified all judges that Ofili-Ajumogobia’s posting takes effect instantly based on the NJC’s approval.

“Your Lordships are by this Circular letter notified that at the Meeting of the National Judicial Council held on the 1st of December, 2022, the Council reinstated the Hon. Justice R. N. Ofili-Ajumogobia as a Judicial Officer.”

“The reinstatement takes instant effect and there shall be consequential posting,” the CJ stated in the circular.

The judge in question was arrested and later rearrested by the EFCC around April 16, 2019, over criminal allegation.

She was in November 2016, charged by the EFCC on an amended 31-count charge bordering on an alleged perversion of the course of justice, unlawful enrichment and forgery.

But in November 2021, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos acquitted Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia of the money laundering charges instituted against her by the antigraft agency.

The court held the decision after agreeing that all allegations and recommendations against her by the EFCC and NJC had been quashed by a coordinate division in Abuja.