The United States Government has slammed visa ban on the Chief Judge of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, and five other Supreme Court Justices.
Journalist Jackson Ude disclosed this on his Twitter handle, @jacksonpbn, on Thursday.
In the piece entitled “U.S place visa ban on CJN Ariwoola, Nweze, Musa Danttijo, three others“, Jackson wrote:
“The U.S Government has placed a visa ban on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Olukayode Ariwoola, and six others members of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Amongst them are Justices Musa Dattijo Mohammed, Centus Nweze all of the Supreme Court.
“The Justices were billed to attend a Seminar in the U.S and were all denied entry.
“Justice Kudirat Kekere Ekun was the first to be informed of her ban.”
It could be recalled that Kekere Ekun in an Editorial entitled “Kekere-Ekun: a case of the evil that (wo)men do?“, had reported how Kekere-Ekun was banned from the United States.
She was banned amidst the report that one Abdul Adewale Kekere-Ekun, a Nigerian fugitive and son of the controversial judge was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United Kingdom for the murder of 18-year-old Marcus Hall in 2001, following a brawl outside Luton’s Atmosphere Nightclub.
The report stated: “Another interesting episode in the life of Justice Kekere-Ekun was the denial of visa by the United States embassy in Nigeria on February 17, 2023, over allegations of corruption, three years after the Supreme Court nullified the election of Ihedioha and declared Uzodinma as the winner.
“Justice Kekere-Ekun was the denial of visa by the United States embassy in Nigeria on February 17, 2023, over allegations of corruption, three years after the Supreme Court nullified the election of Ihedioha and declared Uzodinma as the winner.
In the letter rejecting Justice Kekere-Ekun’s visa application, which was signed by Jay M. Sorensen, an American Consular officer in Abuja, the US government cited “sanctioned activities” as the reason for the denial.
“It was gathered that the US authorities denied visa applications from several judges who had intended to attend a Judges’ conference in the United States.”
More details will follow…