By Ishaya Ibrahim
The executive-induced crisis rocking the judicial arm of government took a dramatic turn on Tuesday with the National Judicial Council (NJC), which summoned an emergency meeting to look into the matter, querying both the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, and the man President Muhammadu Buhari appointed on Friday to act in his stead, Justice Tanko Mohammed.
The two judges were given seven days to respond to the queries.
Onnoghen was asked to respond to allegations leveled against him, especially why he failed to declare all his assets, as stipulated by law.
The acting CJN, Mohammed, was also asked to explain why he allowed himself to be sworn-in by President Muhammadu Buhari without the recommendation of the Council, as stipulated by the Constitution.
They were both given seven working days to respond to the queries.
If the two judges are punished with dismissal, the third most senior Supreme Court Judge, Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour of Lagos State, will replace them.
The NJC also referred the petition written against the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) cgairman, Danladi Umar, to the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC).
A press release by the NJC after the meeting, which was signed by Mr.
Soji Oye, Esq, Director of Information, and titled, “NJC ends emergency meeting, gives Hon. Mr. Justice W.S.N. Onnoghen, GCON and Hon. Mr. Justice I.T. Muhammad, CFR seven (7) working days to respond to petitions,” reads:
“The National Judicial Council held an Emergency Meeting today and considered four (4) petitions filed at its Secretariat. The petitions are: Petition against Hon. Mr. Justice W.S.N. Onnoghen, GCON by Zikhrillahi Ibrahim of Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civil Education; Petition against Hon. Mr. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, CFR by Centre for Justice and Peace Initiative; Petition against Hon. Mr. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, CFR by Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, OON; and Petition against Hon. Danladi Yakubu Umar, Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal by Centre for Justice and Peace Initiative.
“Council referred the petition against Hon. Danladi Yakubu Umar to the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) which is the appropriate constitutional body empowered to deal with it. In line with its procedure, Council also forwarded the petitions against Hon. Justices W.S.N. Onnoghen, GCON and I. T. Muhammad, CFR to them for their responses.
“In view of the gravity of the matters involved, Council abridged the usual response period from fourteen (14) to seven (7) working days for the Hon. Justices to respond.
“Hon. Mr. Justice W. S. N. Onnoghen, GCON and Hon. Mr. Justice I.T. Muhammad, CFR recused themselves from the meeting. Consequently, Council elected Hon. Mr. Justice Umaru Abdullahi, CON, former President of the Court of Appeal as Interim Chairman to preside over the meeting.
“Council will reconvene on the 11th February, 2019.”
Meanwhile, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has asked the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee to expel the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Mr Danladi Umar, from the legal profession for allegedly bringing the profession to disrepute with the steps he took in the trial of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.
Agbakoba, in his letter dated January 29, 2019, itemised three grounds upon which the LPDC should strike Umar’s name out of the Roll of Legal Practitioners in Nigeria.
First, he said the CCT Chairman erred for assuming jurisdiction over the charges filed against Justice Onnoghen when he knew that the CCT lacked jurisdiction.
Agbakoba, who is a Life Bencher, argued that Umar was aware of the judgement of the Court of Appeal in the case of Nganjiwa vs FRN, where the court held that a serving judge could not be charged to court unless he or she is first probed and sanctioned by the National Judicial Council.
He recalled that the CCT, led by Umar, had on the basis of Nganjiwa’s case, struck out the charges filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against Justice Sylvester Ngwuta.
Agbakoba said the interim order granted by Umar on January 23 authorising President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the CJN was suspect, as the lawyer who filed the ex parte application and argued it was not indicated on the order.
“This gives the impression that the CCT may have drawn up the (ex parte) application by itself,” Agbakoba said.
He said with the President suspending the CJN and replacing him with Justice Tanko Muhammad as acting CJN, “Mr Umar’s misconduct has created a constitutional crisis and brought great embarrassment to the legal profession.”
Agbakoba told the LPDC that there was a pending bribery case against Umar before the Federal High Court in Abuja, in which he was accused of demanding a bribe of N10m from one Mr Rasheed Owolabi Taiwo in 2012.
He said he believed that since Umar is not a judicial officer, the Nigerian Bar Association Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee had the power to punish him.
He said, “In the light of these violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct, we pray the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee direct that the name of Mr Danladi Umar be struck out of the Roll of Legal Practitioners in Nigeria.”
