ABUJA – Senate of the Federal Republic yesterday, confirmed the nominations of Justice Ejembe Eko (Benue State) and Justice Amina Augie (Kebbi State) as Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Unlike in the past, the confirmations were done through electronic voting.

President MuhammaduBuhari had last month urged the Senate to confirm the appointment of the two justices who were nominated to fill existing vacancies in the apex court.

The vacancies were created by the retirement of justice J.A. Fabiyi and Justice M.S.Muntaka-Coomasie in November 2015 and February 2016 respectively.

Adopting the report of its committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters which screened the two justices, the Senate enjoined the newly confirmed justices to bring their wealth of experiences to bear in the discharge of their duties.

Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the session, noted that although there were challenges, the Senate expected the two justices to be fair and just in doing their work.

Presenting the report earlier, chairman of the committee, David Umar, noted that with the confirmation of the two new justices, the composition of the Supreme Court as per geo-political zones is a fair reflection of the Federal Character principles as enshrined in section 14 of the 1999 constitution.

In spite of the poor attendance at the yesterday plenary with only 40 members in attendance out of109 Senators, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Senate President who presided over the session called for the adoption of the electronic voting system in determining the confirmation of the nominees.

At the end of the voting, 40 senators participated in the voting on Justice Eko with  39 of Senators voting in support of his confirmation  and one voted against.

On the other hand, 38 voted for Augie’s confirmation with one Senator voting against.

Also yesterday, the Senate referred the President’s request for the confirmation of five persons as members of the National Population Commission to its committee on National Identity and National Population for screening.

The nominees are Benedict Ukpong, Gloria Izonfuo, Kupchi Patricia Ori Iyanya, Haliru Bala and Eyitayo Oyetunji.  The Senate equally referred the request of the President for confirmation of six nominees as members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to its committee on INEC.