President Muhammadu Buhari has
finally accepted the retirement letter of suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria,
Walter Onnoghen.
Onnoghen has been enmeshed in a
false asset declaration scandal since January 2019, as upon resuming office as
CJN, failed to declare a domiciliary US dollar account, a domiciliary euro
account, a domiciliary (pound sterling) account, an e-saver savings (naira)
account and a naira account, all maintained with Standard Chartered Bank (Nig.)
Ltd in Abuja as part of the compulsory asset declaration form.
Onnoghen, 68, was due for
retirement in 2020, but he turned in his resignation letter as CJN on April 4,
2019, to save himself from prosecution.
In a statement on Sunday,
President Buhari said he had accepted the ‘voluntary retirement’ of Onnoghen
and thanked him for his service to the country.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has
accepted the voluntary retirement from service of Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen
as Chief Justice of Nigeria, effective from May 28, 2019.
“The President thanked Justice
Onnoghen for his service to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and wished him the
best of retirement life,” the statement said.
The NJC had recommended Onnoghen
for compulsory retirement after deliberating on a petition by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleging “financial impropriety, infidelity
to the constitution and other economic and financial crimes related laws”.
His retirement benefits in cash
and kind will cost taxpayers about N2.5 billion.
As part of the package for
retired chief justice, a house will be built for him in Abuja with a nine-digit
sum for furnishing — in addition to a severance gratuity that is 300% of his
annual basic salary of N3,363,972.50, as well as pension for life. He is also
entitled to a number of domestic staff and sundry allowances for personal
upkeep.
Meanwhile, President Buhari has
ordered the Acting CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad to appoint five new justices for
the Supreme Court.
He said, “Pursuant to the
provisions of Section 230(2) A&B of the Constitution of the Fed Republic of
Nigeria, 1999(as amended), I am pleased to request that you initiate in earnest
the process of appointing additional five Justices of the Supreme Court of
Nigeria to make the full complement of 21 Justices as provided by the
aforementioned provisions of the Constitution.
“This is in line with the
government’s agenda of repositioning the judiciary in general and Supreme Court
in particular for greater efficiency, with a view to reducing the backlogs of
appeals pending at the Supreme Court.”
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