Confirming Onnoghen as CJN

THE office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) has been subjected to several prognoses and suspicions of late, arising from the delayed confirmation of the Acting CJN, Justice Walter Nkanu Onnoghen, as the substantive holder of the office. The unusually long process of Onnoghen’s appointment gives pundits room for suspicion regarding his confirmation. President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed him acting CJN on November 10, 2016 after the retirement of Justice Mahmud Mohammed as the immediate past CJN. Onnoghen was nominated as Acting CJN by the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) and his name forwarded to the National Judicial Council (NJC). He was thereafter solely recommended to the President as “the most fit and proper person to be the next Chief Justice.” However, in spite of this recommendation by the FJSC on October 10, 2016, exactly a month before Mahmud’s retirement date, the President tarried in forwarding his name to the Senate so that the process of his confirmation could be commenced as the constitution stipulates.

Ostensibly wary of the stalemate that was imminent 24 hours to Mahmud’s retirement on November 9, 2016, the President announced Onnoghen’s appointment as acting CJN. Until that point, the President’s apparent delay in forwarding Onnoghen’s name to the Senate was just a matter of conjecture. The crux of the matter however emerged not long after. Onnoghen’s unusually long span of office in acting capacity is alien to the Constitution. Indeed, the Constitution states unequivocally that if ever there is the need for a holder of the office to occupy it in an acting capacity, it has to be done for three months. The three months, for Onnoghen, will expire on February 10, 2017. If the President tarries a day longer in sending Onnoghen’s name to the Senate for confirmation, the appointment would be dead on arrival and, indeed, his name cannot be represented ever again.

While the President has the right to withhold his assent to Onnoghen’s appointment as the substantive CJN, there are disturbing issues thrown up by his action. Onnoghen is the first Southern Nigerian to have had the ‘luxury’ of being so nominated to the seat of the CJN in the country in the last 29 years. During the period, seven CJNs of Northern extraction have occupied the seat and they were all Muslims, except for Katsina-Alu, a Christian who hailed from Benue State. Also instructive is the fact that no CJN had ever been appointed in acting capacity, except for Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu. Katsina-Alu was sworn-in by his immediate predecessor, Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, arising from the failing health of the then President Umaru Yar’Adua, who was too indisposed to perform his constitutional responsibility. But immediately President Goodluck Jonathan took over the reins of power, he confirmed his appointment as the substantive CJN.

To say the least, President Buhari’s action has the tendency to wake up the ghost of ethnicity that has been Nigeria’s albatross since inception. Till date, the presidency has not communicated why the substantive appointment of Onnoghen is being delayed and why the South’s turn of producing a CJN appears stalled under a Northern President  whose government has often been accused of ethnic favouritism. The suspicion is heightened when it is considered that virtually all the hurdles that must be crossed before a CJN is appointed have been surmounted by Onnoghen. The NJC and the Department of State Services (DSS) found him worthy of appointment as CJN. The agony of the delay in his confirmation is palpable because, in any case, the top echelon of power in all the spheres and tiers of government are peopled by the North. The North has the President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Inspector General of Police and sundry other positions in a country that aspires to unity.

In our view, this anomaly, which has all the trappings of ethnicity, is partly a product of the dysfunctional political system being run by the country. What is worse is that President Buhari has not even deemed it fit to offer the nation an explanation. Could it be that Onnoghen’s appointment as substantive CJN would upset some ethnic calculations at the apex court? If he is ultimately confirmed as the substantive CJN, he will retire on December 23, 2020.

We urge the President not to give further fillip to the allegation that the delay in confirmation of Onnoghen is part of an ethnic agenda. This would destroy the already fractious Nigerian nationhood. The President should do the needful immediately.