Onnoghen: Agbakoba Sues FG, urges court to declare suspension unconstitutional

Human rights lawyer, Olisa Agbakoba, has sued the Federal government over the suspension of Walter Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, urging the Federal High Court Lagos Division to declare as unconstitutional the procedure adopted by President Muhammadu Buhari in carrying out the act.

Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), faulted the action of the President, stressing that judicial officers had a fixed tenure in office which could only be terminated by administrative action of the National Judicial Council or the President acting on an address supported by two third majority of the Senate.

He stressed that the suspension of the CJN by President Buhari did not follow the procedures spelt out by the Constitution of the country.

“In the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghnen, the President of Nigeria did not adopt either of the procedures,” Agbakoba said.

Onnoghen is accused of not fully declaring his assets after becoming the Nigeria’s CJN, but President Buhari, swiftly announced his suspension from office and appointed Justice Tanko Muhammed as the nation’ new CJN, citing orders from the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

The suspension have generated outcry among Nigerians, eminent lawyers, including the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which recently boycotted Court sittings for two days, with varying levels of compliance across the country.

 

Iniobong Iwok