For President Muhammadu Buhari, this is perhaps one of the hardest moments of his life. Still smarting from the barrage of unending claims over his state of health, Nigerians have been raging against him and the North over alleged plots to dump a southerner as the Chief Justice of the Federation.
Nigerians have been unsparing in their criticisms against him and the North, almost three months since the retirement of a Northerner, Justice Mahmud Mohammed after his retirement age of 70.
The North has been filling the position for the past 30 years since the retirement of Justice Ayo Irikefe in 1987. Irikefe is from the south.
After Mohammed, it was supposed to be the turn of Justice Walter Onnoghen from the South, as the most senior on the bench as both of whom joined the Supreme Court in 2005.
Appointments of the Supreme Court Chief Justices in Nigeria had always been done as a matter of seniority as each judge ascends the ladder in progression upon his or her appointment.
The Supreme Court is composed of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and such number of justices not more than 21, appointed by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, NJC and subject to confirmation by the Senate.
A month before Mohammed’s retirement, the NJC, forwarded the name of Onnoghen, from Cross River State to President Buhari for action.
But instead of sending the name to the Senate for confirmation as expected, it kept moot and on November 10 when Mohammed’s term expired, The Presidency named Onnoghen as Acting Chief Justice of the Federation. He is expected to act for three months.
A lot of Nigerians are alleging that the non-confirmation of Onnoghen is a ploy by the North to ensure the perpetuation of their own in the topmost echelon of the Judiciary in Nigeria which dates back to an unbroken 30 years now.
Afenifere, the Pan Yoruba Socio-political group has given President Muhammadu Buhari a nine-day ultimatum within which to forward the name of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Nkanu Onnoghen to the Senate for approval.
At a meeting, which was held in the house of the leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti with prominent Yoruba sons and daughters in attendance, also asked the Federal Government constituted a committee to see to the restructuring of the country.
In a communiqué after about five hours meeting, the group called for the implementation of the report of 2014 National Conference saying the recommendations in the report have tackled the problems threatening the existence of the country.
Second Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Monday Ubani, warned President Buhari of the danger of appointing the next CJN from the Northern part of the country insisting that it could further alienate Justices of the Supreme Court (JSC) of Southern origin.
Ubani who spoke in Lagos, said that the CJN had been appointed from the north for over 29 years consecutively.
Ubani urged Buhari to confirm Onnoghen, 66, as, according to him, the President had not complained that the jurist was unqualified revealing that the next in rank to Onnoghen is Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad from Bauchi State.
His words: “For 29 years, the CJN emerged from a particular region. It was all on merit, nobody had an issue with it,” he said.
“It eventually came to the point of a southerner producing the CJN and for the first time you now put him in an incapacity that raises eyebrows. Why? After the National Judicial Council has even gone ahead and cleared him and all that.
Also, the Cross River State National Assembly Caucus requested President Buhari to urgently transmit the name of Justice Walter Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation as CJN.
Senators and members of the House of Representatives from Cross River stated that the continuous delay of President Buhari to forward Onnoghen’s name to the Senate for screening and subsequent confirmation without any lawful and constitutional cause has brought the issue of the independence of the judiciary and security of tenure of judges to doubt and public discourse.
Speaking on behalf of the eleven members of the caucus, Senator John Enoh (PDP, Cross River Central) explained that the appointment of Onnoghen as the CJN has become imperative against the backdrop that succession to the position has been based on merit and seniority.
He added that the established order and convention have imbued the judiciary with a measure of stability and positioned it to play the critical role of dispensing justice immune to it undue influence of powerful vested interests.
Besides, Chairman of South South chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Archbishop God-Dowell Avwomakpa who is also the General Overseer of Christ Missionaries Crusaders, Warri in Delta State urged the Acting President to forward the name of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, to the Senate for confirmation.
The CAN helmsman expressed confidence in the judiciary, noting that it remains the last hope of the common man.
Avwomakpa argued that the National Judicial Council has recommended the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria to President Muhammadu Buhari about two months ago as the most senior justice of the apex court for confirmation as the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
Already, Lawyer and rights activist, Ebun-olu Adegboruwa, has dragged President Buhari and five others to the Federal High Court in Lagos over the non-confirmation of Justice Onnoghen as the substantive CJN.
The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Senate, the National Judicial Council, Hon Justice Walter Onnoghen and the Attorney-General of the Federation were joined as co-defendants in the suit.
In the suit, Adegboruwa is asking the court to direct the President, and in his absence, the Vice-President, to forthwith forward the name of Justice Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation as the CJN.
He is equally seeking for an order of injunction to restrain the President and the Vice-President from appointing another candidate for presentation to the Senate, for the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, apart from Justice Onnoghen, who is the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court and who has already been selected and recommended by the National Judicial Council (NJC).
