Olukayode Ariwoola: Controversy Surrounds Age, Health Status Of New CJN

Controversy has surrounded the age and current health status of the new CJN, Olukayode Ariwoola.

 

 

Newsonline reports that there are emerging controversies over the age and health status of Olukayode Ariwoola, who was on Monday, sworn in by President Muhammadu Buhari as the acting chief justice of Nigeria (CJN).

 

Ariwoola is expected to serve in an acting capacity until confirmation by the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the national assembly.

 

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At the swearing-in ceremony in the presidential villa, the acting CJN swore to be faithful and bear true allegiance to the federal government, as well as defend the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

However, fresh questions have been raised over the credentials of Ariwoola, particularly on the date of his birth and the date he began school.

 

Ariwoola, according to his credentials, was born in Iseyin, Oyo State, on August 22, 1958. 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.

 

Many have thus, wondered how possible it is for the new CJN to have started school just a year after he was born.

 

Meanwhile, before Ariwoola was sworn in to his new role, insiders within the apex revealed 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, according to a report by TheCable.