A legal action seeking the interpretation of parts of Section 23 of the 1999 Constitution regarding the appointment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), and the powers of the President has been withdrawn.
Malcolm Omirhobo, a Lagos based legal practitioner had dragged President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, before the Federal High Court, Abuja, over the appointment of a substantive CJN and the principle of power separation.
The plaintiff, through his counsel, Chinwe Okpala sought the court for the interpretation to Section 231(1),(3), (4) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
President Buhari and the AGF were sued along with the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), Justice Walter Onnoghen and the National Judicial Council (NJC) as the First, Second, Third and Fifth defendants respectively in the suit with number FHC/ABJ/CS/1019/16.
The withdrawal of the suit by the plaintiff was predicated upon the reality that prayers 11 and 12, where he prayed for an ‘order mandamus’ compelling the first defendant to appoint Justice Onnoghen as substantive CJN and an order of mandamus compelling the first defendant to appoint Justice Onnoghen as CJN and transmit same to the Senate for confirmation respectively, had been fulfilled.
The suit which came up on the same day Justice Onnoghen was sworn in as the CJN was subsequently withdrawn and struck out, as it had been overtaken by events.
Counsel to the NJC, Y. M. Ede, had earlier submitted that all prayers had been answered where he further described the matter as academic and hypothetical.
He insisted that the President did not hand pick the CJN but had followed due process in such that the prayers of the plaintiff had already been answered by the appointment of Justice Onnoghen.
