The newly appointed Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Salisu Garba, has voluntarily retired from office.

He has subsequently been appointed the administrator of the National Judicial Institute (NJI).

Ahuraka Isah, spokesman to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, issued a statement to that effect on Monday.

He said that the National Judicial Institute Board of Governors, under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Nigeria Tanko Muhammad, approved the appointment of Mr Garba.

“Justice Garba, who was until his new appointment, the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, voluntarily retired to enable him resume at the Institute,” he said.

Mr Garba takes over from Justice Rosaline Bozimo, whose tenure as the Administrator of the Institute ended July 31.

Mr Garba was sworn-in as the FCT Chief Judge on June 7 and would have been due for retirement October 10 when he would have attained the mandatory retirement age of 65.

The judge who was born on October 10, 1956, hails from Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State.

He was called to bar in 1984 just as he completed his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in 1985, went into legal practice for three years after NYSC.

He was appointed magistrate in the FCT in 1989, served as the Chief Registrar of the FCT High Court until he was appointed a judge of the FCT High Court in 1998.

The appointment which takes effect from August 1, is for three years, from the date of appointment.