TheCable

The senate committee on judiciary, human rights and legal matters screened Monica Dongban-Mensem on Wednesday.

President Muhammadu Buhari had sent her name to the senate for confirmation after an initial delay.

Dongban-Mensem has been acting as head of the appellate court since the retirement of Zainab Bulkachuwa in March.

Although the National Judicial Council (NJC) earlier recommended her as the substantive head of the court, Buhari had extended her tenure as acting president by three months.

Sources had told TheCable that dirt-digging was employed by some presidential advisers to get her disqualified and pave the way for Mohammed Lawal Garba, the judge who chaired the 2019 presidential election petitions tribunal that ruled in favour of Buhari.

When she appeared before the senate on Wednesday, I. D. Gyang, a senator, who is not a member of the committee, stood in solidarity with her.

Gyang expressed gratitude to the senate for screening her speedily, assuring his colleagues that as president the court of appeal, she would make the nation proud.

After addressing the committee, Dongban-Mensem was asked to “take a bow and go”.

The senate would take a decision on her nomination on Thursday.