By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
with additional report from News Accelerator
A motion has been filed at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) by persons acting on behalf of the Federal Government, seeking to effect the removal of Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), and Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC).
The motion was filed by Musa Ibrahim and Fatima Danjuma Ali on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), on Thursday, January 17, 2019.
According to the applicants acting for FGN, the motion is intended at ensuring that the CJN is not a judge in his case and that the next in line of seniority, Justice Tanko Muhammed, becomes the acting CJN pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The motion is also seeking to ask the Tribunal to compel President Muhammadu Buhari to name the next most senior Justice of Supreme Court as the acting CJN and chairman of the NJC.
The motion on notice which was brought pursuant to Section 6(6) Paragraph 11 (1) of the Fifth Schedule, Part 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), is further praying the Tribunal for an interlocutory order “directing the defendant/respondent to step aside as the Chief Justice of Nigeria and chairman of the National Judicial Council over an allegation of contravening the provision of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act CAP C15 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, pending the determination of the case.
“An interlocutory order of the honourable tribunal directing the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to take all necessary measures to swear in the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court as an acting Chief Justice and Chairman of the National Judicial Council in order to prevent a vacuum in the judicial arm of government pending the determination of the case.”
