‘CJN appointment by the President followed due process’

Senior Special Adviser to the President on Prosecution, Obono Obla on Friday said the appointment of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari followed due process, despite criticism by a section of the media.

Obla said his appointment was done in line with the section of 1999 constitution that allows the most Senior Justice of the Supreme Court and recommended by the National Judicial Council (NJC)

Speaking in a telephone interview with BDSUNDAY in Calabar, the Cross River State Capital, Obla said after three months of his appointment, the President will now forward his name to the National Assembly for confirmation.

Obla said the appointment of Justice Onneghen as the Acting CJN of Nigeria was in order. “I feel very excited that a Cross Riverian has been appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) after thirty five years. The SSA on Prosecution said the last time Southern Nigeria produced such a position as CJN was Ayo Irikefe in 1985-1987.” He said the new Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria has blazed the trail.’

He admitted that there was a strong lobby which he was privileged to that the President should appoint an outsider as a member of the Supreme Court and an outsider as the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN  as it happened during the Clinton Administration in the United States of America (USA)

His words: “Yes we saw it happen in America because Justice Brown who was appointed by President Clinton was not a member of the Supreme Court; in Nigeria it was Justice Alexander of the then Southern Eastern Nigeria who was a non-member of the Supreme Court and the Samson Elias who was appointed out of the Supreme Court in 1970.

“This President loves Cross River State, having appointed a Minister of Niger-Delta, Head of Service of the Federation, Chief of Naval Staff, SSA to the President on Prosecution, Chairman NDDC, and now Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), I think this President loves our state despite the lobby,” he said.

Also Governor Ben Ayade has commended President Buhari for his consistent show of love for the state. Ayade said in a statement that the President has shown once more his absolute love for the people of the state.