Justice Onnoghen: Mike Ozekhome clashes with Gov. El-Rufai over suspended CJN

By: Oliseama Okwuchukwu

A frontline legal luminary, and human rights activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, has attacked the Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El- Rufai, for calling for the resignation of suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Onnoghen.

El-Rufai had described the suspended CJN as a “shameless judge who has demonstrated that he is no longer fit to continue in office.”

Reacting to this, Ozekhome said El–Rufai was a mouth piece of the North in their illegal quest to northernise the nation’s judiciary.

The Sun newspaper quoted the senior lawyer as saying that it was “very clear to any Nigerian that Governor El- Rufai is the mouth piece of the North in their rabid action to enthroned a total northernisation of the judiciary in the country.

“The Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Ishaq Bello is a northerner; the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Kafarati is a northerner.

“The only southerner and Christian amongst them is the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, who is now illegally and unconstitutionally suspended from office by President Muhammadu Buhari via a black-market order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

“There is no name of any counsel on the said order of the CCT; the question is, did the tribunal move the motion for the suspension of Justice Onnoghen on its own?

“Secondly, the order merely directed the CJN to step aside and not suspension. The question again is ‘should Justice Onnoghen step aside to warrant the appointment and swearing in of an acting Chief Justice of Nigeria?

“The suspension of Justice Onnoghen is a breach of Sections 258, 231 and 292 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 3(d), 15 and 24 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal Act.

“It is a desperate attempt by the unpopular APC government to rig the 2019 election having been rejected by Nigerians on account of its failed promises.

“Justice Onnoghen’s removal is also an attempt by the executive arm of government to have a firm control of the nation’s judiciary.

“So, Mallam El- Rufai is just the mouth piece of the North in their evil agenda to northernise the judiciary.”