aminulive:
@POLITICSNGR

Legal Luminary, Femi Falana has finally reacted to the suspension of the CHief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement sent to PoliticsNGR, Falana stated stated that the Illegality of the suspension should not be allowed to stand. Read the full Statement below;

"I have had cause to call on the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN to withdraw the charge of false declaration of assets filed against the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. The call was without prejudice to the merit of the serious allegations levelled against the Chief Justice. In line with decided judicial authorities I had wanted the National Judicial Council to investigate the allegations. Unfortunately, the 88th statutory meeting of the NJC scheduled to hold on January 15, 2019 which could have deliberated on the matter and take an informed position was postponed indefinitely on the directive of the embattled Chief Justice."

"As the battle shifted to the courts, both the Judiciary and the Executive were forum shopping for court orders from the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. In the process, settled principles of law were sacrificed for the exigency of the moment."

"Thus, at the 15th annual Gani Fawehinmi lecture which held in Lagos on January 15 2019, I was compelled to warn against the dangerous trend. Regrettably, the warning fell on deaf ears. Curiously, in an act of brazen impunity, the Executive procured an ex parte order from the Code of Conduct Tribunal for the immediate suspension of the Chief Justice from office. In his purported compliance with the ex parte order, President Mohammadu Buhari has announced the suspension of Justice Onnoghen as the Chief Justice and appointed Justice Tanko Mohammad as the Acting Chief Justice."

"It is unfortunate that the Bar and the Bench have played into the hands of the sponsors of incipient fascism in the country. For reasons best known to them, the stakeholders in the legal profession stood by and allowed the Office of the Chief Justice to be completely desecrated. It is intringing that the 12 lawyers including three Senior Advocates of Nigeria in the federal cabinet did not deem it fit to disuade President Buhari from carrying out the illegal suspension of the Chief Justice on the basis of an ex parte order issued by the Code of Conduct Tribunal. In particular, they ought to have reminded the President of the compulsory retirement of Justice Stanley Nnaji and Justice Wilson Egbo-Egbo for issuing illegal ex parte orders for the removal of Dr. Chris Ngige as Governor of Anambra State. It is sad to recall that it was the federal government superintended by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that instigated the illegal removal of the governor at the material time."

"However, notwithstanding the inauguration of Justice Tanko Mohammad as the Acting Chief Justice the legal profession should not hesitate to review the entire Onnoghen saga in the interest of the nation's judiciary. In Elelu-Habeeb v AGF (2012) 40 WRN 1, the Supreme Court held that by virtue of section 292 of the Constitution the heads of the judicial arms of the state and federal governments in the country cannot be removed without a prior investigation conducted by the NJC. Consequently, the apex court set aside the purported removal of the appellant as the Chief judge of Kwara State upon an address forwarded to the house of assembly by former Governor Bukola Saraki. Therefore, the National Judicial Council should convene and constitute a committee to investigate the allegations leveled against the Chief Justice and make appropriate recommendation to the relevant authorities."

"Meanwhile, the legal team of the Chief Justice should proceed to challenge his suspension from office either at the Code of Conduct Tribunal or the Court of Appeal."

Despite the gravity of the allegations levelled against the Chief Justice the illegality of the suspension should not be allowed to stand. The ex parte order is a suspect document as the motion ex parte on which it was predicated was allegedly filed on January 9, 2019 while the substantive charge against the Chief Justice was filed at the registry of the Code of Conduct Tribunal on January 11, 2019. Furthermore, the counsel who argued the motion is not indicated in the ex parte order. However, in view of President Buhari's belated fidelity in the rule of law the federal government should comply with all valid and subsisting orders of competent municipal and regional courts made against the federal government. President Buhari should not be permitted to choose and pick orders of courts to obey."

https://politicsngr.com/breaking-illegality-not-stand-femi-falana-reacts-cjn-suspension/

Therefore, the National Judicial Council should convene and constitute a committee to investigate the allegations leveled against the Chief Justice and make appropriate recommendation to the relevant authorities."

Racoon:

Thought Falana helped enthroned this catastrophic government? You, Soyinka, others must enjoy it.Karma is serving it raw-red, red hot.Zombies your destruction draweth nearer.

Racoon:

Thought Falana helped enthroned this catastrophic government? You, Soyinka, others must enjoy it.Karma is serving it raw-red, red hot.Zombies your destruction draweth nearer.

sanpipita:


Salami was suspended on recommendation of NJC stop twisting facts

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/08/breaking-news-justice-salami-suspended/

deomelo:





1. The suspended CJ openly confessed to the world that he violated the laws of the FRN so what's there to investigate? To investigate his confession.


2. The next step is to ask him to resign, a step that should have been taken a long time ago, but this is Nigeria, a country where lawless corrupt people even after confessing and admission of guilt still gets support and defense to evade justice at the expense of the constitution they swore to uphold and protect.

3. This is no longer an allegation, it's a confession.

In Nigeria, doing the right thing is just not normal, it must e the other way around because we are still socially, culturally and politically backward.

Baawaa:

Onnoghen want to play smart,but is not smart as Buhari

SalamRushdie:
I have noticed that Nigerian lawyers are very ignorant on the unassailable power of the constitution so you hear them make very ignorant statements like " this should not be allowed to stand " "This must be reversed " but in reality and in the presence of the sacred constitution "NOTHING HAPPENED" !!!!! as Buhari neither has the power to niether select the CJN no replace him nor sack him or suspend him so in reality there is nothing to reverse here as Buharis action is totally ultra vires and as such the Status quo is the reality , a reality where Justice Onnoghen remains CJN till something constitional happens .

The questions doubting zombies should ask themselves are:

1 : Can the Senate President suspend the President?

2 : Can the CJN suspend the President?

3: Can the President suspend the Senate President?

4 : Can the CEO of MTN suspend the CEO of Airtel?

5: Can you suspend who you didnt employ and who doesn't work for you?

If your answer to any of the above is No then you should know Buhari is wrong.

What options does Buhari have now?

As it stands Buhari has just 3 options and they are :

1 : Respect the constitutional status quo

2: Beg Onnoghen to resign and then lobby the NJC to nominate Tanko .

3 . Lobby the NJC to recommend Onnoghen for removal and submit to the National assembly to vote on.

anything outside this is a stranger to our constitution and there null and void!!!

babaolofin:


Bro NCC can remove MTN or Airtel CEO. The question is the serious allegation CJN is facing. Falana is very diplomatic in this statement. CJN is the head of NJC. CCT has made his submission. No Lawyer has challenged CCT

RTSC:

Summoned by who? The CCT?

If the president feels he is wrong, then get the NJC to fire him.

Can buhari fire the Senate president because he is supposedly corrupt?

Reptyle:
I said it at another form that by refusing to heed the summons of the CCT, the chief judge was inadvertently playing into the hands of the politicians. He allowed what could have been handled and dispensed of within the legal space to become a political matter.

Rather than obey the summons of a court, the CJN chose to disregard the summons on the instruction of Wike and his fellow south South governors. Now that it has become a political issue, the courts have become pay as you go. Exparte motions upon exparte motions flying all over the place.

What is the worse that would have happened if he had gone to the CCT? He may have had to quit office. But he would do so with honor and the judiciary will keep it's honor and reputation.

Now with his pig headed action, the CJN has set in motion a series of wrong reactions that could lead to a constitutional crises that will augur well for no one in the end.

Racoon:

Thought Falana helped enthroned this catastrophic government? You, Soyinka, others must enjoy it.Karma is serving it raw-red, red hot.Zombies your destruction draweth nearer.

nameo:
Like I said in previous threads, no lawyer (whether in Buhari Govt or close to it) has nor would ever support the clear assault to constitutionality and the judiciary as Buhari has clearly done.

Go through all the reactions so far by lawyers and you find no lawyer supporting this(except the musings of Sagay who was very half hearted in his response). No lawyer in this Govt not even the VP or Keyamo will do so. They know they implication . It now I got The Whole understanding of all these controversies.
Thank your �

We are not interested in this cos of partisan politics but what it portake for the judiciary and democracy.

Let Buhari follow the due process: send a petition to the NJC and the NJC should investigate and deliberate whilst the CJN recluse himself. The finding from such investigation should then be forwarded to the Senate for a decision to be made. Only then can the President remove him from office.

Any other path is an illegality which is null as it is utterly void.

Clerverly:


He wanted to act like a typical Politician by Postponing indefinitely the sitting of NJC who are supposed to investigate him.

[

Good advice, let them go and challenge it in court instead of heating up the internet.

Meanwhile the body of this article is entirely different from the headline.

Useless Bloggers

Reptyle:
I said it at another form that by refusing to heed the summons of the CCT, the chief judge was inadvertently playing into the hands of the politicians. He allowed what could have been handled and dispensed of within the legal space to become a political matter.

Rather than obey the summons of a court, the CJN chose to disregard the summons on the instruction of Wike and his fellow south South governors. Now that it has become a political issue, the courts have become pay as you go. Exparte motions upon exparte motions flying all over the place.

What is the worse that would have happened if he had gone to the CCT? He may have had to quit office. But he would do so with honor and the judiciary will keep it's honor and reputation.

Now with his pig headed action, the CJN has set in motion a series of wrong reactions that could lead to a constitutional crises that will augur well for no one in the end.

somehow:
You need education.

Chief judges are appointed by the president, senators are voted for by the citizens and cam only be removed by the court and the citizens.

Senate president can only be removed by his fellow senators, citizens and court.

NJC can't fire any chief court, they can only recommend, the president and the Senate are the ones that can do that.

However, in view of President Buhari's belated fidelity in the rule of law the federal government should comply with all valid and subsisting orders of competent municipal and regional courts made against the federal government. President Buhari should not be permitted to choose and pick orders of courts to obey."

Viergeachar:


Why not let the NJC recommend?

A smarter Buhari/FG should have sought the advice of NJC irrespective of his fears.

Buharists are looonatics!

SalamRushdie:
I have noticed that Nigerian lawyers are very ignorant on the unassailable power of the constitution so you hear them make very ignorant statements like " this should not be allowed to stand " "This must be reversed " but in reality and in the presence of the sacred constitution "NOTHING HAPPENED" !!!!! as Buhari neither has the power to niether select the CJN no replace him nor sack him or suspend him so in reality there is nothing to reverse here as Buharis action is totally ultra vires and as such the Status quo is the reality , a reality where Justice Onnoghen remains CJN till something constitional happens .

The questions doubting zombies should ask themselves are:

1 : Can the Senate President suspend the President?

2 : Can the CJN suspend the President?

3: Can the President suspend the Senate President?

4 : Can the CEO of MTN suspend the CEO of Airtel?

5: Can you suspend who you didnt employ and who doesn't work for you?

If your answer to any of the above is No then you should know Buhari is wrong.

What options does Buhari have now?

As it stands Buhari has just 3 options and they are :

1 : Respect the constitutional status quo

2: Beg Onnoghen to resign and then lobby the NJC to nominate Tanko .

3 . Lobby the NJC to recommend Onnoghen for removal and submit to the National assembly to vote on.

anything outside this is a stranger to our constitution and there null and void!!!

somehow:
The criminal of a man called Onnoghen postponed the meeting that would have afforded NJC the opportunity to do that indefinitely.

Why are you Nigerians supporting criminals for God sake? E be like say Dem curse una with corruption o lol

aminulive:
@POLITICSNGR

Legal Luminary, Femi Falana has finally reacted to the suspension of the CHief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement sent to PoliticsNGR, Falana stated stated that the Illegality of the suspension should not be allowed to stand. Read the full Statement below;

"I have had cause to call on the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN to withdraw the charge of false declaration of assets filed against the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. The call was without prejudice to the merit of the serious allegations levelled against the Chief Justice. In line with decided judicial authorities I had wanted the National Judicial Council to investigate the allegations. Unfortunately, the 88th statutory meeting of the NJC scheduled to hold on January 15, 2019 which could have deliberated on the matter and take an informed position was postponed indefinitely on the directive of the embattled Chief Justice."

"As the battle shifted to the courts, both the Judiciary and the Executive were forum shopping for court orders from the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. In the process, settled principles of law were sacrificed for the exigency of the moment."

"Thus, at the 15th annual Gani Fawehinmi lecture which held in Lagos on January 15 2019, I was compelled to warn against the dangerous trend. Regrettably, the warning fell on deaf ears. Curiously, in an act of brazen impunity, the Executive procured an ex parte order from the Code of Conduct Tribunal for the immediate suspension of the Chief Justice from office. In his purported compliance with the ex parte order, President Mohammadu Buhari has announced the suspension of Justice Onnoghen as the Chief Justice and appointed Justice Tanko Mohammad as the Acting Chief Justice."

"It is unfortunate that the Bar and the Bench have played into the hands of the sponsors of incipient fascism in the country. For reasons best known to them, the stakeholders in the legal profession stood by and allowed the Office of the Chief Justice to be completely desecrated. It is intringing that the 12 lawyers including three Senior Advocates of Nigeria in the federal cabinet did not deem it fit to disuade President Buhari from carrying out the illegal suspension of the Chief Justice on the basis of an ex parte order issued by the Code of Conduct Tribunal. In particular, they ought to have reminded the President of the compulsory retirement of Justice Stanley Nnaji and Justice Wilson Egbo-Egbo for issuing illegal ex parte orders for the removal of Dr. Chris Ngige as Governor of Anambra State. It is sad to recall that it was the federal government superintended by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that instigated the illegal removal of the governor at the material time."

"However, notwithstanding the inauguration of Justice Tanko Mohammad as the Acting Chief Justice the legal profession should not hesitate to review the entire Onnoghen saga in the interest of the nation's judiciary. In Elelu-Habeeb v AGF (2012) 40 WRN 1, the Supreme Court held that by virtue of section 292 of the Constitution the heads of the judicial arms of the state and federal governments in the country cannot be removed without a prior investigation conducted by the NJC. Consequently, the apex court set aside the purported removal of the appellant as the Chief judge of Kwara State upon an address forwarded to the house of assembly by former Governor Bukola Saraki. Therefore, the National Judicial Council should convene and constitute a committee to investigate the allegations leveled against the Chief Justice and make appropriate recommendation to the relevant authorities."

"Meanwhile, the legal team of the Chief Justice should proceed to challenge his suspension from office either at the Code of Conduct Tribunal or the Court of Appeal."

Despite the gravity of the allegations levelled against the Chief Justice the illegality of the suspension should not be allowed to stand. The ex parte order is a suspect document as the motion ex parte on which it was predicated was allegedly filed on January 9, 2019 while the substantive charge against the Chief Justice was filed at the registry of the Code of Conduct Tribunal on January 11, 2019. Furthermore, the counsel who argued the motion is not indicated in the ex parte order. However, in view of President Buhari's belated fidelity in the rule of law the federal government should comply with all valid and subsisting orders of competent municipal and regional courts made against the federal government. President Buhari should not be permitted to choose and pick orders of courts to obey."

https://politicsngr.com/breaking-illegality-not-stand-femi-falana-reacts-cjn-suspension/

nameo:
Like I said in previous threads, no lawyer (whether in Buhari Govt or close to it) has nor would ever support the clear assault to constitutionality and the judiciary as Buhari has clearly done.

Go through all the reactions so far by lawyers and you find no lawyer supporting this(except the musings of Sagay who was very half hearted in his response). No lawyer in this Govt not even the VP or Keyamo will do so. They know they implication .

We are not interested in this cos of partisan politics but what it portake for the judiciary and democracy.

Let Buhari follow the due process: send a petition to the NJC and the NJC should investigate and deliberate whilst the CJN recluse himself. The finding from such investigation should then be forwarded to the Senate for a decision to be made. Only then can the President remove him from office.

Any other path is an illegality which is null as it is utterly void.

middlebelter:


For the first time in recent time, I like your position on this matter SAN. In tímes like this, we miss our own erudite Chief Gani Fawehinmi!

GANI! OH GANI!!, OH GANI!!! We are missing you o!

Some of us have always been suspicious of the capacity of PMB to govern without ursupation of power beyond his contitutional limit. Where are his 2015 converts? I mean Prof Wole Soyinka, Pastor (Barr) Bakare etc? Your selling point was the man will fight corruption? PLEASE CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT YOU CALL A SITUATION WHEN A PRESIDENT ARTOGATES TO HIMSELF THE POWER NOT ALLOCATED TO HIM UNDER THE CONSTITUTION? Perhaps, it more serious than corruption?

The dictatorial tendencies of this man has always been a suspect, today been manifested before election. What should we expect if he eventually win the election?

somehow:
The criminal of a man called Onnoghen postponed the meeting that would have afforded NJC the opportunity to do that indefinitely.

Why are you Nigerians supporting criminals for God sake? E be like say Dem curse una with corruption o lol

Kay17:


I will presume you are a lawyer and that you can identify the one of the most fundamental principles for adjudication: you cannot be a judge in your own cause. It is a joke to assume that NJC will be just and fair in a trial or investigation over its chairman while he still in office.

And if you examine the law as a whole, yes a 2/3 majority of the Senate is required to remove him but he doesn't enjoy an immunity like the president does. The Constitution by acknowledging the CJN's lack of immunity has subjected him to the court processes with the attendant results.

Viergeachar:


Is that why the FG didn't do the rightful about initio? Postponement or not, the NJC will handle any petition from the FG.

Why didn't the FG play its own part

UnchangeableGod:
Postponement of the NJC meeting does not mean it will not hold. Why the rush? I believe the target of both parties is who will be in charge of the 2019 elections adjudication.

orion7:
zombies will not destroy this country



who is going to recognise the imposter as cjn except buhari and zombies


even the Njc has thrown its weight behind onoghen.

somehow:
NJC will handle it when?2050? Onnoghen postponed their meeting indefinitely!

Viergeachar:


The NJC doesn't have to sit for them receive a petition from the FG.

Why didn't the FG send the petition ab initio

Onnoghen cannot stop the NJC from receiving a petition from the FG.