Stakeholders decide Onnoghen’s fate this week

…NJC, Senate to meet on way forward

…NBA summons crucial meeting as SERAP wants NJC to takeover case

Doosuur Iwambe and Tunde Opalana, Abuja

The National Judicial Council (NJC), Senate and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) are set to hold an emergency meeting this week to discuss the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen and the swearing-in of Justice Tanko Mohammed as the acting CJN by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday. A top anonymous source from the NJC told our correspondent on Sunday night that past Chief Justices of Nigeria will be in attendance where strong decisions will be made at the end of the meeting. According to the source, the meeting scheduled to hold at the Supreme Court premises by 10am on Monday will take place behind closed doors. “The meeting was earlier billed to hold last week but Justice Onnoghen said that it should be temporarily placed on hold in view of the situation on ground. “Both Justice Onnoghen and the acting CJN, Tanko Mohammed may be allowed to participate in the meeting”, the source added. Also, the National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has summoned emergency meeting over President Buhari’s action against Onnoghen, which the legal body insisted was illegal. Those summoned to attend the meeting holding at the National Headquarters of the NBA are all its National Officers, Past Presidents, Past General Secretaries, Branch Chairmen, Branch Secretaries, Branch NEC Representatives and Chairmen and Secretaries of Sections. The NBA noted in a statement by its General Secretary, Jonathan Gunu Taidi, Esq, that only the statutory members of the NEC will be attending the meeting. In the meantime, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has urged the NJC to immediately set up a committee to investigate the allegations of breach of constitutional asset declaration requirements against him. Also, if following your investigation, the allegations against Justice Onnoghen is established, the NJC should refer the case to appropriate anti-corruption bodies for prosecution, SERAP added. The organisation also asked the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammed, to recuse himself from the process as the Ag. CJN. In the petition dated 26 January 2019, and signed by SERAP senior legal adviser, Bamisope Adeyanju, addressed to the Next-In-Rank to the Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC), the organisation said: “The urgent intervention by the NJC would remove the allegations against Justice Onnoghen from the vicissitudes of political controversy, and a clear and present danger to the independence and authority of the judiciary. It would also help to reverse the country’s increasing movement toward anarchy or despotism.” According to the organisation, “It is in time like this that the NJC must be most vigilant and alive to its constitutional duties, if it is not to permit a diminution of our treasured constitutional rights.” The petition, copied to Mr. Diego García-Sayán, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, reads in part: “Neither knee-jerk reactions by politicians nor abuse of the legal and judicial process by the government and some senior lawyers would be acceptable to break the constitutional logjam. The NJC ought to be concerned with the gravity of allegations against Justice Onnoghen. “This matter has inevitably thrown our country into a judicial-cum-constitutional crisis, which if not urgently addressed would lead to political crisis that would seriously put at risk Nigeria’s fledgling democracy, consequently exacerbating the declining respect for human rights at all levels of government.” “The NJC should not and cannot stand-by while the authority and independence of the judiciary is diminished to the point at which the citizens lose confidence and trust in its ability to render justice to those need”, SERAP added. The NJC is an organ of the judiciary that is responsible for the Appointment, Promotion and Discipline of Judicial Officers. The Daily Times recalls that Justice Onnoghen who was accused of failing to declare his assets as prescribed by the law, as well as maintaining five separate foreign accounts, had insisted that Federal Government ought to have allowed the NJC to investigate and recommend him for prosecution. He challenged the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to hear the charge marked CCT/ABJ/01/19, contending that the petition against him, likewise the outcome of the investigation purportedly conducted on his assets declaration forms by the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, ought to have been forwarded to the NJC for proper actions to be taken. The tribunal which earlier declined to hand-off Onnoghen’s trial, had on January 23, granted the ex-parte order President Buhari relied upon to suspend him as the substantive CJN. The order that was signed by its Chairman, Danladi Umar, and another member of the panel, Mrs. Julie A. Anabor, read: “It is hereby ordered as follows: That the defendant/respondent shall step aside as the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman National Judicial Council over allegation of Contravening the provisions of the code of Conducts and Tribunal Act CAP C15 Laws of the Federation 2004 pending the determination of the Motion on notice dated 10th January 2019. Meanwhile, the Senate will cut short its recess by recovering on Tuesday to discuss issues of urgent National importance which include the constitutional crisis that looms over the suspension of Justice Walter Onnoghen. In a statement by the Clerk of the Senate, Nelson Ayewoh, the senators were informed that resumption of plenary earlier scheduled for Tuesday, 19th February, 2019 has rescheduled for Tuesday, 29th January, 2019. Senate President had earlier announced that the leadership of the National Assembly will meet on Sunday ahead of the resumption date. But as at the time of filing this report, there was no sign of such meeting. The President of the Senate, who is the chairman of the National Assembly, was said to be busy with PDP political campaign in his Kwara, his home state. The Chief Press Secretary to the Senate President, Mr. Sanni Onogu, said he was not sure the meeting was slated for Sunday. He, however, confirmed the resumption of the Senate on Tuesday. Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki had earlier given the indication that the resumption might not be unconnected with issues surrounding the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen, by President Muhammadu Buhari. Saraki had described the action as a coup against democracy and a deliberate attempt to endanger Nigeria’s hard-won democracy. Saraki, in a statement personally signed by him, stated that the suspension was another act of desperation by President Buhari. He noted that by the suspension of the CJN, Buhari has acted outside the provision of the constitution, has exercised the powers which he does not have and that this action amounted to gross misconduct. “This is an action aimed at undermining the nation’s judiciary, subverting the constitution, intimidating judges of all the courts of record, and creating uncertainty in the electoral process, thereby laying the foundation for influencing the outcome of litigations that might arise from next month’s elections. “There are already the general belief that this hasty action was taken to pre-empt the already scheduled inauguration of election petition tribunals by Hon. Justice Onoghen and to destroy national institutions that are perceived to be unco-operative in his bid to manipulate the electoral process leading to next month’s general elections. “By unilaterally suspending the CJN without following the provision of the constitution, President Buhari has taken an action which amounted to gross misconduct. He has simply sent a dangerous signal to the entire world that Nigeria is no longer a democratic nation and that we have returned to the old, jaded era of military dictatorship. “Our constitution makes no provision for suspension of the nation’s highest judicial officer. The constitution provides a clear process for removal of the CJN and specify the roles of the three arms of government, beginning from the National Judicial Council (NJC), the National Assembly and lastly, the Presidency, have different roles to play in that process. There is no condition under which the President can usurp the powers of other arms of government. I do not know where the President and his advisers got this idea of suspending the CJN on the so-called order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal but this is novel, disingenuous and alien to our laws. “The President and his team must have seen this so-called suspension as a short-cut to getting Hon. Justice Onnoghen out of the way since the appellate court has eventually stopped the CCT from continuing with the trial of the CJN. It is strange that President Buhari is claiming to be taking orders from a Tribunal which has been ordered by a superior court to halt all actions on the trial. “With this action, President Buhari has initiated a process the consequence of which nobody can predict. They have precipitated a constitutional crisis. “At this point, all democratic institutions in the country, the international community and democrats across the world should rise against this blatant act of impunity. We should jointly condemn this retrogressive, uncivilized and despotic measure”, Saraki stated.