Legal Luminary, Femi Falana has finally reacted to the suspension of the CHief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement sent to PoliticsNGR, Falana stated stated
that the Illegality of the suspension should not be allowed to stand.
Read the full Statement below;
“I have had cause to call on the
Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN to withdraw
the charge of false declaration of assets filed against the Chief
Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen at the Code of Conduct
Tribunal. The call was without prejudice to the merit of the serious
allegations levelled against the Chief Justice. In line with decided
judicial authorities I had wanted the National Judicial Council to
investigate the allegations. Unfortunately, the 88th statutory meeting
of the NJC scheduled to hold on January 15, 2019 which could have
deliberated on the matter and take an informed position was postponed
indefinitely on the directive of the embattled Chief Justice.”
“As
the battle shifted to the courts, both the Judiciary and the Executive
were forum shopping for court orders from the Federal High Court, the
National Industrial Court, the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Court of
Appeal. In the process, settled principles of law were sacrificed for
the exigency of the moment.”
“Thus, at the 15th annual Gani
Fawehinmi lecture which held in Lagos on January 15 2019, I was
compelled to warn against the dangerous trend. Regrettably, the warning
fell on deaf ears. Curiously, in an act of brazen impunity, the
Executive procured an ex parte order from the Code of Conduct Tribunal
for the immediate suspension of the Chief Justice from office. In his
purported compliance with the ex parte order, President Mohammadu Buhari
has announced the suspension of Justice Onnoghen as the Chief Justice
and appointed Justice Tanko Mohammad as the Acting Chief Justice.”
“It
is unfortunate that the Bar and the Bench have played into the hands of
the sponsors of incipient fascism in the country. For reasons best
known to them, the stakeholders in the legal profession stood by and
allowed the Office of the Chief Justice to be completely desecrated. It
is intringing that the 12 lawyers including three Senior Advocates of
Nigeria in the federal cabinet did not deem it fit to disuade President
Buhari from carrying out the illegal suspension of the Chief Justice on
the basis of an ex parte order issued by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
In particular, they ought to have reminded the President of the
compulsory retirement of Justice Stanley Nnaji and Justice Wilson
Egbo-Egbo for issuing illegal ex parte orders for the removal of Dr.
Chris Ngige as Governor of Anambra State. It is sad to recall that it
was the federal government superintended by former President Olusegun
Obasanjo that instigated the illegal removal of the governor at the
material time.”
“However, notwithstanding the inauguration of
Justice Tanko Mohammad as the Acting Chief Justice the legal profession
should not hesitate to review the entire Onnoghen saga in the interest
of the nation’s judiciary. In Elelu-Habeeb v AGF (2012) 40 WRN 1, the
Supreme Court held that by virtue of section 292 of the Constitution the
heads of the judicial arms of the state and federal governments in the
country cannot be removed without a prior investigation conducted by the
NJC. Consequently, the apex court set aside the purported removal of
the appellant as the Chief judge of Kwara State upon an address
forwarded to the house of assembly by former Governor Bukola Saraki.
Therefore, the National Judicial Council should convene and constitute a
committee to investigate the allegations leveled against the Chief
Justice and make appropriate recommendation to the relevant
authorities.”
“Meanwhile, the legal team of the Chief Justice
should proceed to challenge his suspension from office either at the
Code of Conduct Tribunal or the Court of Appeal.”
Despite the
gravity of the allegations levelled against the Chief Justice the
illegality of the suspension should not be allowed to stand. The ex
parte order is a suspect document as the motion ex parte on which it was
predicated was allegedly filed on January 9, 2019 while the substantive
charge against the Chief Justice was filed at the registry of the Code
of Conduct Tribunal on January 11, 2019. Furthermore, the counsel who
argued the motion is not indicated in the ex parte order. However, in
view of President Buhari’s belated fidelity in the rule of law the
federal government should comply with all valid and subsisting orders of
competent municipal and regional courts made against the federal
government. President Buhari should not be permitted to choose and pick
orders of courts to obey.”
Source:- Politicsngr
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