Tag: Walter Onnoghen

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FEATURED STORIES NEWS & LIFE

BREAKING: Chief Justice Tanko Muhamad resigns like predecessor, Onnoghen

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad

The country’s judicial system ha been greeted with a surprise as Justice Tanko Muhammad has resigned as the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

This will remind stakeholders of the fact that his predecessor, Walter Onnoghen, had also resigned.

The circumstances may, however, not be the same as Tanko is said to have cited health reasons.

Citing sources, Channels Television confirmed that he resigned on Sunday night on the grounds of ill-health.

Also, a controversy had, days ago, rumbled at the apex court as some justices alleged some abnormalities.

The Bauchi State-born justice studied at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he received an LL.B. degree in Islamic Law, from 1976 to 1980.

He later obtained an LL.M. degree and a Ph.D in law from the same university in 1985 and 1998 respectively.
Tanko was called to bar in 1981, the same year he graduated from the Nigerian Law School, and began his career in 1982.

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FEATURED STORIES NEWS & LIFE

Some justices of Supreme Court still live in rented apartments in unsuitable areas – Onnoghen

Former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, has said that the condition of service justices of the Supreme Court is so bad that some of them live in rented homes in poor areas.

He warned that unless the Supreme Court is adequately funded, it may become a glorified high court.
Onnoghen made the assertion on Thursday in Abuja at the public presentation of Nigeria’s first book on construction law, authored by Mrs Ewuwuni Onnoghen-Theophilus.

The former CJN said that justices of the apex court had been suffering in silence since 2008 when their salaries and emoluments were last reviewed by government.
He said that some justices of the apex court still lived in rented houses in unsuitable areas in the Federal Capital Territory.

Onnoghen also said that the chambers of the Supreme Court justices are unbefitting of their status and appealed that the court be properly funded to enable the justices perform optimally in a conducive environment.
He recalled that while he was in charge at the apex court, he headed a team comprising the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Solicitor-General of the Federation which prepared a new welfare scheme on the order of the Federal Government.

He, however, said that the welfare scheme report which would have enhanced the condition of service of the justices had been jettisoned.
He therefore pleaded that funding of the judiciary should be immediately looked into with a view to improving it because of the critical role of the judiciary in nation building.

Justice Onnoghen further canvassed that appeal cases should not get to the Supreme Court as of right but by leave of the court to eliminate congestion in the workload of the court.
“There must be a rethink on issues affecting the judiciary because without a strong legal profession, you cannot talk of the rule of law,” he said.

He commended Onnoghen-Theophilus, author of the book, and appealed that youths should be encouraged to contribute meaningfully to the general development of the country.
For his part, former Attorney-General, Mr Bayo Ojo (SAN), applauded the resourcefulness of the author and expressed optimism that the book would serve as a veritable tool to address crisis in the construction industry in Nigeria.
The publisher of the book, Mr James Onoja (SAN), said that laws on construction industry as brought out in the book would serve as a guide to players in the industry, especially considering the incessant cases of collapsed buildings.

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Real reason Buhari sacked me – Onnoghen

Onnoghen

About two years after he was sacked as the of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen has broken his silence.

According to him, the reason he was sacked is different from the one canvassed.

He claimed on Friday that he was removed because some people told President Muhammadu Buhari that he had a meeting with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who was Buhari’s opponent in the then pending presidential election.

He noted that it was rumoured he held the meeting with Abubakar in Dubai before the last general elections.

THE NATION reports that Onnoghen expressed disappointment with the presidency’s failure to authenticate the rumour before acting on it, despite its huge investigative capacities.

Onnoghen made the disclosure at the public presentation of a book titled: “Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009: Practice, procedure, forms and precedents,” authored by Ogwu James Onoja (SAN).

The Nation reported that Onnoghen who recalled the process leading to his removal, noted that the situation got to its head when all of a sudden his trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) was put in motion even when he had not been invited or accused of any wrongdoing.

He condemned his trial process before the CCT, and further stated that in the course of the trial and when parties had joined issues, an ex-parte application was suddenly brought in and “what followed was my illegal and unlawful suspension as the CJN.”