Adegboruwa drags Buhari, Osinbajo, Saraki to court over Onnoghen
- The anxiety generated over the fate of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen has shifted to the court
- Lagos-based lawyer and human rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa is at the centre of it all
- He has dragged several top ranking government officials to court
Lagos-based lawyer and human rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa has dragged the president, the vice-president, the Senate, the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Attorney-General of the Federation to court.
According to a report by Thisday, Adegboruwa's action is based on the delay of Justice Walter Onnoghen's confirmation as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Onnoghen was appointed as CJN in acting capacity late last year following the retirement of Justice Mahmud Mohammed upon clocking the mandatory retirement age of 70.
The lawyer said his move is meant to preserve the office of the CJN.
In the suit filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, Adegboruwa is asking the court to direct the president, and in his absence, the acting president, to forward the name of Justice Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation as recommended by the NJC.
He also asked for an order of injunction to restrain the president and the acting president from appointing another candidate for confirmation to the Senate for the office of the CJN apart from Justice Onnoghen, who is the most senior justice of the Supreme Court and who has already been selected and recommended by the NJC.
READ ALSO: Federal government plots Onnoghen's removal as CJN
The lawyer also wants the court to stop the Senate from accepting, entertaining, deliberating on or considering the nomination of any other candidate that might be forwarded to it by the president and the acting president, apart from Justice Onnoghen.
He is seeking an order of injunction to restrain the NJC from entertaining any request from the president and the acting president, to consider another candidate for the office of the CJN, apart from Justice Onnoghen already selected.
Adegboruwa also prayed the court to forthwith direct Justice Onnoghen to assume and take over and be performing and discharging the duties and functions of the office of the CJN until such a time that the president would agree to forward his name to the Senate for confirmation or until he retires at the mandatory age of 70 years.
In the suit, Adegboruwa traced the history of the previous appointments of all the CJNs, stating that it has never been the style of the executive to leave a vacuum in the highest judicial office of the land.
He accused President Muhammadu Buhari of a negative bias against the judiciary which he had openly declared as his headache, stressing that the president is deliberately withholding the appointment of Justice Onnoghen in order to destabilise the judiciary and to force him into compulsory retirement, being a Christian from Southern part of Nigeria.
Onnoghen, 66, hails from Cross River state in the South-South region.
READ ALSO: Onnoghen may lose out as Nigeria's CJN
Meanwhile, legal luminary Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) has condemned the non-transmission of the name of Justice Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation as substantive CJN.
Olanipekun said the Buhari adminsitration is creating a hazardous uncertainty in the polity and setting a dangerous precedent by refusing to send Justice Onnoghen’s name for confirmation.
Source: Legit.ng
