The resignation of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, last Thursday night, was a preemptive move to stave off his possible retirement by President Muhammadu Buhari, following a recommendation to that effect by the National Judicial Council (NJC). Huhuonline.com broke the news of Onnoghen’s resignation with immediate effect, saying he turned in his resignation letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, a day after the NJC recommended that he be compulsorily retired for gross misconduct.
By virtue of section 306 of the 1999 Constitution, his resignation takes immediate effect. The Section 306 says: “(1) Save as otherwise provided in this section, any person who is appointed, elected or otherwise selected to any office established by this Constitution may resign from that office by writing under his hand addressed to the authority or person by whom he was appointed, elected or selected.
Subsection 2 says: “The resignation of any person from any office established by this Constitution shall take effect when the writing signifying the resignation is received by the authority or person to whom it is addressed or by any person authorized by that authority or person to receive it.”
The recommendation for compulsory retirement by the NJC can only take effect when the President has presented it to the senate, because the President can only remove the CJN on the recommendation of the NJC supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate, as stipulated in Section 291 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. Therefore the recommendation for compulsory retirement can only take effect when the President presents the NJC recommendation to the senate..
NJC sources however confided to Huhuonline.com that Buhari has succeeded in giving Onnoghen a bad name in order to hang him by charging him before Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). The embattled former Chief Justice is said to have been overwhelmed by the evidence against him, which convinced the NJC to recommend him for retirement, to the extent that he decided to resign rather than go through the humiliation of being forced out of office by the president. The compulsory retirement of Onnoghen would have cost the country about N2.5 billion in benefits.
Huhuonline.com understands that Onnoghen’s voluntary resignation would save the President from having to get the two-thirds majority of the senate required to confirm his retirement, as stipulated in Section 292 (1) of the 1999 constitution, which says a “judicial officer shall not be removed from his office or appointment before his age of retirement except in the following circumstances – (a) in the case of- (i) Chief Justice of Nigeria… by the President acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate.” Getting a two-thirds majority from the current senate would be near impossible by Buhari, considering the frosty relationship between the executive and legislature; hence the president will do well to accept Onnoghen’s resignation.
Though a senior lawyer in Onnoghen’s legal team confirmed his resignation to AFP, his spokesperson, Awassam Bassey, was yet to make any official statement on the matter, even as reactions continued to trail the decision by the former CJN to resign. A lawyer, Chief Goddy Uwazuruike, described Onnoghen’s resignation as the worst way any Judge could be treated in Nigeria. Uwazuruike said in a statement, that a new precedent has been set to deal with courageous Judges, stressing that the judiciary might not recover from it.
He said: “This resignation was like a thunderbolt! This man has been humiliated in the worst way possible for a Judge to be treated in this country since 1984, which was the year CJN, Justice Sowemimo, was removed from office by the then military head of state, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Ever since, the dignity of the judiciary was never trampled upon by any government, military or civilian. “As a lawyer, I weep for the other members of the judiciary, who did not understand that a new benchmark has been set for whipping any independent and courageous judge into line. Truly, the fulcrum of democracy has been damaged. Whether the third arm of the government, the judiciary, shall recover is a matter of conjecture. But one thing is certain; our judiciary will not be respected all over the world and in Nigeria.”
Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Femi Aborisade, noted that the NJC’s recommendation has not been acted upon by the President: “By Section 306 of the Constitution, as amended, the suspended CJN has the right to resign and the resignation would take effect the moment the letter of resignation is received by Mr. President. The alleged recommendation by the NJC that Justice Onnoghen be retired remains what it is; a recommendation, which has not been acted upon by the President. Therefore, on the basis of the constitution, the suspended CJN can still exercise the option of resignation.
“But my concerns remain: the executive arm of government has achieved the goal of subjecting the judiciary to a culture of fear and intimidation, in that any judicial officer would draw the conclusion that tenure of office of a judicial officer is at the mercy of the executive. If the suspension of CJN Onnoghen were about a fight against corruption, the constitutional due process would have been followed, which unfortunately, was not the case.”
Also, Babatunde Fashanu (SAN) said Onnoghen ought to have resigned immediately he admitted he did not make a full declaration of his assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). “That would have avoided all the embarrassing prosecution at the CCT and the NJC. Retirement can be voluntary or compulsory. The NJC’s recommendation to the President, if accepted, would lead to CJN’s compulsory retirement. I believe his decision to throw in the towel is a deft pre-emptive move to avoid his being compulsorily retired by the President. The judicial community can now breathe a sigh of relief for good riddance to the embarrassing saga,” he added.
But that is the point many fair-minded people made, that the President ought to have awaited the recommendations of the NJC before proceeding against Onnoghen. Invariably, the President succeeded in giving the man a bad name in order to hang him by charging him before CCT and suspending him, illegally. Remember, the so-called EFCC evidence was not in view when the Onnoghen was suspended and charged to the CCT over false asset declaration charges.
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