The National Judicial Council
(NJC) has expressed satisfaction with President Muhammadu Buhari’s acceptance
of the voluntary retirement of ex-Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.
Recall that Buhari had on Sunday accepted Mr Onnoghen’s retirement two months after the former
chief justice wrote to the president.
Before his retirement, Mr
Onnoghen was being tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for alleged false
assets declaration.
Mr Onnoghen wrote a retirement
letter in April after he was asked to do so by the NJC which probed a complaint
that he abused his office by not properly declaring his assets.
Before then, he had been
controversially suspended from office by President Muhammadu Buhari on the
order of the CCT.
The CCT gave the order ‘exparte’
meaning without the presence of Mr Onnoghen’s lawyer. Majority of Nigerians
were not aware of the order until the presidency announced it.
The appeal court later condemned
the “secret” order by the CCT but said it could not rule as the order had been
overtaken by events.
Mr Onnoghen was later convicted
by the CCT of false assets declaration. The CCT ordered that he be sacked from
office and not allowed to hold public office for the next ten years. The CCT’s
order came days after Mr Onnoghen wrote the retirement letter.
It is the retirement that Mr
Buhari has now accepted.
In its reaction to the
president’s decision to accept the voluntary retirement, the NJC said Mr
Buhari’s action “was in the best interest of Nigeria.”
The NJC, in a statement by its
spokesperson, Soji Oye, said it held an “emergency meeting today to take formal
note of the acceptance of the voluntary retirement of Hon. Mr Justice W. S. N.
Onnoghen, GCON, as Chief Justice of Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari,
GCFR.”
“The president’s acceptance of
the retirement is in line with Council’s recommendation to the President on 3rd
April, 2019.
“Council at the end of its
deliberations, thanked the president for the acceptance which was in the best
interest of Nigeria,” Mr Oye said.
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