By Taiye Odewale
Abuja
The entire federal lawmakers from Cross River State at the National Assembly yesterday kicked against delayed confirmation of Justice Samuel Walter Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) three months after his recommendation to that effect by the National Judicial Council (NJC).
The NJC had on the strength of Constitutional powers granted it by section 231(1) of the 1999 constitution as amended, recommended Onnoghen to President Muhammadu Buhari as the next Chief Justice of Nigeria after the expiration of tenure of Justice Mahmud Muhammed on November 8, 2016.
Briefing the press, the lawmakers led by Senator John Owan Enoh (PDP Cross River Central), described the delay as an “unfortunate development and an obvious travesty carried out for too long.
“This unfortunate development has enveloped the Supreme Court and Judiciary with an intriguing cobweb of uncertainty and given conspiracy theorists a field day to decode why this obvious travesty has endured up till now.
“There is growing sentiment in certain quarters , that Justice Onnoghen ‘s earned elevation to the rank of Chief Justice of Nigeria is held in abeyance precisely because he is either not from a particular ethnic origin preferred by powerful forces or his profound and at times radical judicial pronouncements make him too principled to occupy this exalted office. The President’s in action in this instance has acted as a cannon fodder for those alluding to a vast conspiracy to deny Justice Onnoghen his earned position”.
The lawmakers, therefore, called on the presidency to without further delay, forward Justice Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation as CJN.
“We therefore call on the President to act in clear and decisive manner now, by transmitting without further delay, the name of Justice Samuel Walter Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation as Hon Chief Justice of Nigeria as recommended by the National Judicial Council’, they stressed.
