Buhari, AGF sued over CJN appointment

President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice have been dragged before a Federal High Court in Abuja over the appointment of a substansive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the principle of separation of power.

Buhari, AGF are sued along with the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), Justice Samuel Walter Onnoghen and the National Judicial Council (NJC) as 1st to 5th defendants respectively in the suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1019/16, filed by Chief Malcolm Omirhobo for himself and on behalf of the generality of Nigerians.

In the suit, the plaintiff is praying the court to interpret Section 231(1) (3)(4) and (5) of the 1999 constitution as amended.

The plaintiff, a Lagos-based legal practitioner is asking the court to determine whether the qualification, assessment and evaluation necessary for the appointment of the CJN are the exclusive preserve of the FJSC and the NJC.

He also asked the court to determine whether the President, in exercising his powers to appoint the CJN must act on the recommendation of the NJC, by virtue of section 231(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

Plaintiff also wants the court to determine whether by virtue of section 231(3) of the 1999 Constitution, the President, as the head of the executive arm of government can hand-pick and or choose who he wants to be the head of the judicial arm of the government and whether the judicial arm is an appendage of the executive arm.

He also asked the court to determine whether the CJN and Justices of superior courts of records and magistrates as well as other judicial officers in the country hold their offices at the pleasure of the President.

The plaintiff therefore urged the court to declare that the qualification, assessment and evaluation necessary for the appointment of CJN is the exclusive preserve of the FJSC and the NJC and that the judicial arm is not an appendage of the executive arm of government and that by virtue of section 231 of the constitution, the president must act on the recommendation of the NJC to appoint the CJN.

Similarly, plaintiff wants the court to declare that the president cannot hand-pick or choose who he wants to be the head of the judiciary except as demanded by the constitution.

He therefore seeks an order of perpetual injunction retraining the President from abusing the powers conferred on him by the constitution under section 231 and for another order stopping the President from further eroding on the independence of the judiciary as the third arm of government.

Besides, he also wants order of the court compelling the President to uphold the principle of separation of powers and the rule of law as enshrined in the constitution.

When the matter came up yesterday before Justice John Tsoho, only the NJC was represented while others were absent even though they had been served with the originating summons.

Counsel to the plaintiff, Mrs Chinwe Okpala told the court that all the defendants have been served with the originating summons and wondered why the rest four were not in court.

She therefore asked for an adjournment for the parties to be present in court.
Justice Tsoho granted the request and adjourned till March 7, 2017 for hearing.