NJC Gives Onnoghen, Muhammad 7 Days To Respond To Petitions

Far-reaching decisions were yesterday taken by the National Judicial Council (NJC) as part of its efforts to resolving the lingering crisis which involves the top echelons of the country’s Bench.

The NJC, which yesterday held an emergency meeting on the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari, who also appointed Justice Tanko Muhammad as acting CJN, allegedly confronted the duo with petitions written against them by two groups and a senior lawyer, Chief Olisa Agbakoba.

After deliberating on the petitions, the NJC gave Onnoghen and Muhammad seven working days to respond to them.

Apparently to avoid the possible interference of Onnoghen and Muhammad in the council’s activities, the NJC elected former president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi (rtd), as its interim chairman.

Justice Abdullahi, who hails from Katsina State, was chief judge of the state and president of the Court of Appeal between 1999 and 2009.

TrackNews learnt that Justice Onnoghen was absent at the meeting while the acting CJN excused himself from the day’s proceedings.

Consequently, the mantle of the NJC leadership fell on Abdullahi, who presided at the session.

To ensure fair hearing, the NJC forwarded the petitions against Onnoghen and Muhammad to them, and directed that they file their responses within seven working days.

Although, the usual time lag the NJC allows for response to petitions is 14 days, the council abridged the convention due to the sensitive nature of the crisis.

It was further learnt that Onnoghen’s suspension by the president automatically disqualifies him from his position as the NJC chairman to sit over its meeting. Justice Muhammad, who is the deputy chairman of the council, allegedly excused himself from the meeting because of the petitions also written against him.

Sources said that the actions of the two top judicial officers were in line with the recent standing rules of the council that any officer under investigation should not sit over the NJC’s proceedings.

Of the 24 members of the council, only 19 members participated at the meeting as retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Emmanuel Olu Ayoola and retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, V.O.A. Omage, were absent.

Also, the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), left the meeting soon after its commencement, but later denied that he walked out of it.

The NJC, in a statement after the meeting yesterday in Abuja, explained that it referred the petition written against the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, to the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) for necessary action.

In a statement issued yesterday by the NJC’s director of Information, Mr. Soji Oye, he said that the meeting considered four petitions filed at its secretariat.

One of the petitions was against Onnoghen, two against Muhammad and one against Umar, Oye said.

The statement reads: “The National Judicial Council held an emergency meeting today (yesterday) and considered four petitions filed at its secretariat. The petitions are against Hon. Mr. Justice W.S.N. Onnoghen by Zikhrillahi Ibrahim of Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civil Education; Hon. Mr. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad by the Centre for Justice and Peace Initiative; Hon. Mr. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad by Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), and Hon. Danladi Yakubu Umar, chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal by the Centre for Justice and Peace Initiative.

“In view of the gravity of the matters involved, Council abridged the usual response period from 14 to seven working days for the Hon. Justices to respond. Council referred the petition against Hon. Danladi Yakubu Umar to the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) which is the appropriate constitutional body empowered to deal with it.

“In line with its procedure, Council also forwarded the petitions against Hon. Justices W.S.N. Onnoghen and I. T. Muhammad to them for their responses.”

Although, sources claimed that the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, Abubarkar Malami, on Monday presented reports of corruption allegations against Onnoghen before the NJC, it was unclear whether the council considered the report.

A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), who petitioned the NJC, asked it to determine the propriety of Justice Muhammad accepting to be the acting CJN.

Agbakoba, in the petition suggested that Justice Muhammad lent himself to constitutional infraction by the Executive arm of government by submitting himself to the president to be sworn-in as acting CJN, thereby violating the rules of the NJC.

According to him, Justice Muhammad was part of the NJC panel which sanctioned Justice Obisike Orji of Abia State for allowing himself to be sworn-in as chief judge by the state governor without the recommendation of the NJC.

“It is a matter of regret that Justice Muhammad, who participated in this process, will lend himself to this constitutional infraction,” he stated.

Atiku Writes US, UK, Others

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former vice president of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has written a petition to the international community over what he termed “constitutional breaches” by the Buhari administration.

Atiku, who said that the voice of the international community is critical to the survival of Nigeria’s democracy, urged the world powers to mount pressure on the federal government to desist from violating Nigeria’s laws and to provide a level-playing field for the upcoming general elections.

Atiku, in a letter he addressed to the ambassadors of the United States (US), France, Germany, the European Union (EU), and the United Kingdom (UK) high commissioner to Nigeria, listed some of the constitutional breaches as the suspension of Onnoghen, the alleged illegal purchase of the Tucano aircraft, disregard for orders of courts, including Col. Sambo Dasuki (former National Security Adviser) and Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, leader of the Shi’ite group.

He listed others as Executive Order No. 006 (On Preservation of Suspicious Assets and Related Schedules) and the approval of $1 billion for military expenditure before approaching the National Assembly.

The former vice president, in the letter, dated January 27, 2019,titled: “Constitutional Breaches Under The Watch of President Muhammadu Buhari”, told the international community that he wrote to them as Nigeria’s international development partners “working together to deepen and strengthen our democracy as well as to help in the transformation of our economies and societies for the better.”

He alleged that “President Buhari is threatening our democracy by serially breaching the provisions of our constitution and undermining organs and institutions of state in order to advance his personal interest.

“While the president has ironically taken oath to safeguard and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the reality of his selective and wanton violations of its provisions means that his oath is observed only in the breach.

“And as Your Excellency very much knows, respect for the rule of law is integral to promoting and preserving the values and principles of democracy. Sadly, however, by the actions of the government of President Buhari, one is forced to think otherwise.

“As a presidential candidate in the forthcoming general elections that will be conducted and supervised by the government of President Buhari, I feel the urgent need to share with you some of these key violations of the provisions of our constitution and to demand that you pile pressure on the federal government to desist from these violations and ensure a level-playing field for the general elections that are only a couple of weeks away.

“We acknowledge with profound appreciation the positions taken by some members of the international community in Nigeria and urge Your Excellency to add your country’s very strong voice against these breaches of Nigeria’s constitution. Your voice is very important to the survival of Nigeria’s democracy.”

Atiku therefore urged the international community to partner with Nigerians to defend the country’s constitution and play an active role in building the nation.

He said that the choices facing the country are either to stand aside and watch Nigerians re-elect a president who has been in constant violation of the laws of the land without remorse; or to support them to show him the way out and elect a true democrat.

Nigeria Not British, American Colony, Says Oshiomhole

From the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, came a warning to the US, UK and EU to be mindful of the fact that Nigeria is not their colony.

Oshiomhole spoke to State House correspondents on Monday night after a meeting of APC senatorial candidates with Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja.

He noted that reactions by the two countries and the EU to Onnogehn’s suspension were pure interferences in the internal affairs of the country and warned that Nigeria would not tolerate such.

Oshiomhole therefore urged Nigerians to rise in defence of the sovereignty of the country by supporting the action of the president.

The APC chairman said: “The thing is that Nigeria is not a colony. I think we all have to be careful. We must defend the sovereignty of our country.

“We welcome collaboration and peer review, we can compare notes, we welcome people who are interested in sharing experiences with us whenever the need arises, whether it’s capacity building, making useful suggestions on how we can continue to improve on our electoral process.

“Those are very valuable contributions that we appreciate. But Nigeria is not a colony. We will not accept any foreign interference in the internal affairs of the country.

“When they dismiss judges in Europe, in the United States when they are found guilty of corruption and the Western world cannot on the one hand, when it suits them, describe Nigeria as fantastically corrupt and when a corrupt judicial officer is being charged, they want to interfere.

“What anybody can insist on is whether somebody is being framed? Is the suspended CJN guilty of the allegations made against him? Or is it something being cooked out from nowhere?

“Now, if the chief justice of the federation admits that he has breached the law and that he has several foreign domiciliary accounts, even though he also admits that by nature of his office, he is not a trader, what is he doing with accounts in British pounds, US dollars and in Euros and to the extent of forgetting that he has those accounts?

“And at a certain level of responsibility, it’s not even about legal technicalities. It’s about the moral weight you carry. So, nobody should make us feel as though we are at the mercy of any other country,” he said.

Court Boycott: Lagos, Abuja Lawyers Ignore NBA

Also yesterday, Lawyers in Lagos disregarded a directive issued to all legal practitioners in the country by the NBA to boycott the courts for two days in protest against the suspension of Onnoghen by Buhari.

Their colleagues in Abuja did not also comply with the NBA order as they reported at the courts in the nation’s capital.

At the Supreme Court, normal proceedings were held by a five-man panel of justices led by Justice Mary Peter-Odili.

Lawyers announced appearances in almost all the cases listed for hearing, which suggested that the boycott order had no effect.

The situation was the same in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high courts.

A visit to both the Lagos and Ikeja division of the Lagos State High Court by our correspondent showed that judicial activities were not disrupted.

Lawyers were seen in the premises going into the registry to file processes while others were in the courtrooms attending to their cases.

As at 10am, most of the judges had started hearing cases on their lists unhindered.

The same situation was also witnessed at the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal and the National Industrial Court.

However, there was partial compliance with the directive at the Federal High Court in Lagos.

Two judges, Justice Ibrahim Buba and Justice Adizat Shagari held full court sitting, while Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke and Justice Salisu Saudi adjourned all the cases before them.

Other judges of the court were said to be in Abuja for a seminar.

Some of the lawyers told our correspondent that it would be difficult for NBA to enforce the directive because lawyers had important cases fixed for hearing for the two days.

Litigants Stranded In Anambra

In Anambra State, litigants were stranded at the Federal High Courts, State High Courts and Magistrate Courts as lawyers deserted them in obedience to the boycott of courts declared by the NBA.

When TrackNews visited the Federal High Court and State High Court complexes respectively in Awka, the state capital, all the courtrooms were deserted by the lawyers.

At the Federal Court 1, two suspects brought from the prisons were in the courtroom with a prison staff, but their trial could not hold as neither lawyers nor the trial judge was in the court. It was a similar scenario in the nearby Federal High Court 2.

There were also empty courtrooms at the state high court complex.

Some senior judicial staff at both court complexes told LEADERSHIP that the judges were in their chambers, but could not conduct trials because the lawyers boycotted courts.

MURIC Warns NBA Against Taking Side

In its reaction to the NBA order, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) warned it not to institutionalise corruption in the country by taking side with embattled Onnoghen.

MURIC’s director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, in a statement he issued yesterday in Ibadan, Oyo State, urged members of the NBA not to pursue vested interest.

He said that Nigerians saw the Onnoghen affair as a “struggle among those who fight corruption, those who despise it, those who embrace it and those who benefit from it.”

According to the group, if the NBA would not stand up to be counted among those in the first group, it must not be seen