Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammed, has told the National Judicial Council (NJC) that President Muhammadu Buhari does not need its
Muhammed said this in his reply to a query by the NJC.
He said the council only needs to be consulted when a substantive CJN was being appointed or re-appointed.
“In my respectful view, the National Judicial Council has no role to play in the appointment of an acting Chief Justice of Nigeria in the first instance, that is to say on first appointment. The council comes in where the appointment as the acting CJN is to be renewed or extended. I humbly refer to Section 231(4) of the 1999 Constitution,” Muhammed said.
The acting CJN said he would immediately step down and return to his former position as a justice of the Supreme Court if the suspension of Walter Onnoghen was reversed.
“It was for the larger interest of the judiciary and the constitutionality that I accepted to be sworn in as acting CJN with the conviction that if the order of January 23, 2019 is eventually set aside, the status quo would be restored. But before it is set aside, there should be no vacuum in the office of the CJN and the chairman of the NJC,” he said.
Muhammed added that he was summoned to the Presidential Villa by Mr Buhari and shown a certified copy of the ex-parte motion granted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and signed by its chairman, Danladi Umar, for Onnoghen’s suspension.
