The suspension of the Chief
Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Onnoghen has continued to cause controversy
across Nigeria.
Buhari had last week suspended
Onnoghen and immediately appointed Tanko Mohammed as the acting CJN.
Explaining his reason, the
President said he suspended Onnoghen, following an order from the Code of
Conduct Tribunal, CCT, asking him to wield the big stick.
Reacting to the saga, the
National Judicial Council, NJC, had yesterday issued a query to both the
suspended CJN and the man on acting capacity.
In the query, NJC gave both
Onnoghen and the acting CJN seven days to respond to the petitions brought
against them.
However, an insider who spoke on the ground of anonymity said the query issued to both
Onnoghen and Mohammed was aimed at removing them from office.
The source stressed that NJC’s
move was aimed at clearing its name of being political.
According to the source: “If you
look at the situation on ground, some politicians seem to be on the side of
Onnoghen while the Buhari’s government is backing Tanko Mohammed, this the NJC
is not very pleased with. This can lead to suspicion.
” Because of this development,
the NJC is silently working towards removing both Onnoghen and Tanko Mohammed
because the body wants to maintain its image of being apolitical and to
frustrate politicians rooting for the two gentlemen.
“And this process can only be
successful when we take the first step; which is the query we issued both
embattled NJC and the one on the acting capacity.
“When they both respond, the body
will now deliberate and possibly decide to relieve both of them and a ew
recommendation will be made for their replacement.”
When asked if the government will
accept the new recommendation by the NJC, the source said: “When a
recommendation is made and Buhari government refuses to accept, then Nigerians
would know that the current anti-corruption fight is rubbish. It will become
clear that the reason Onnoghen was suspended in the first place was political.
”This move by the NJC is a litmus
test to the government in power. It’s an opportunity for the government to
clear its name regarding the allegation of Onnoghen’s ‘prosecution.’ We will
make our recommendation at the end of the day and see how the federal
government will react to it,” he said.
When the August body refused to censure the presidency for clearly usurping it’s powers in the suspension of the CJN, I knew instantly that they lacked the courage and were up to something funny! Anyway, all this rubbish will come to pass quickly.
ReplyDeleteman being political animals is not questionable...
ReplyDeletethen where NJC is right unfortunately man as a political animals will always politicize it and back to square one..
Do the right thing..and stick to it.