The Federal High Court in Abuja
has refused to stop President Muhammadu Buhari from swearing-in acting Chief of
Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammed as substantive CJN.
The court rejected an ex-parte
application for an order stopping the president swearing-in Justice Muhammad as
CJN.
Muhammad has been acting as the
CJN since January when Buhari suspended the former CJN, Justice Walter
Onnoghen.
With Onnoghen’s resignation and
subsequent conviction by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Muhammad is believed to
be set to assume the office of the CJN in a substantive capacity.
The main suit filed by Malcom
Omirhobo Foundation, a group being promoted and represented in court by a
lawyer, Mr. Malcom Omirhobo, is challenging Muhammad’s fitness to hold the
office of the CJN.
Justice Inyang Ekwo rejected the
group’s ex-parte application requesting an order stopping Buhari from
swearing-in the acting CJN in an acting capacity, in a ruling on Friday.
The enrolled order of the court
was only sighted by The PUNCH on Monday.
Rather than grant the prayers
contained in the ex parte application, the judge, in his ruling, directed the
applicant to put all the seven defendants on notice.
Ex parte applications are
characteristically conducted in the absence of the adverse parties.
But Justice Ekwo ruled that the
prayers sought by the applicant in its ex parte application could not be
granted in the defendants’ absence.
After hearing the plaintiff’s
lawyer, Justice Ekwo ruled, “It is hereby ordered as follows: That none of the
prayers made on this motion ex parte can be granted in the absence of the
defendants. The plaintiff is hereby ordered to put the defendants on notice.
The defendants are hereby granted seven days upon being served to appear and
show cause why the application of the plaintiff ought not to be granted. Case
adjourned till May 13, 2019 for the defendants to show cause.”
The 1st to the 7th defendants who
are to show cause why Muhammad should not be sworn in as the CJN are, the
National Judicial Council, the Federal Judicial Service Commission, the Acting
CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad; the Federal Government of Nigeria, President
Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation, and the National Assembly.
The plaintiff had in its
substantive suit filed in April, alleged that Justice Muhammad made himself
available as a tool that was used in the violation of the Constitution,
especially with regards to the “illegal” removal of Justice Walter Onnoghen as
the CJN.
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