As the National Judicial Council (NJC) holds an emergency meeting tomorrow, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba SAN, on Monday wrote a petition against the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Mohammed, for allegedly presenting himself to be sworn-in as Acting CJN.
The petition dated January 28, 2019 was sent to the members of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Supreme Court, Abuja.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on January 25, 2019, acting on an exparte order of the Code of the Conduct Tribunal (CCT), suspended the CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghnen and sworn-in Justice Tanko Mohammed as the Acting CJN.
The Constitution, according to Agbakoba, is clear about the procedure for suspending or removing the CJN, adding that the CJN could only be removed on the recommendation of the NJC.
He mentioned Section 153 (1), Paragraph 21 (a) of the 3rd Schedule and Section 292 (1) (a) (i) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and the Supreme Court decision in Elelu-Habeeb v AGF (2012) 40 WRN 1.
He said that Justice Tanko Mohammed was fully aware of the state of law, yet presented himself to be sworn-in by the President.
“Incidentally, Justice Tanko Mohammed was a member of the NJC panel that removed Justice Obisike Orji of the Abia state High Court for accepting to be sworn-in as Chief Judge by the Governor of Abia state without the recommendation of the NJC. It is a matter of regret that Justice Tanko Mohammed who participated in this process will lend himself to this constitutional infraction”, Agbakoba said.
He therefore asked the NJC to determine his petition in line with the decision in Justice Obisike Orji by immediately removing Justice Tanko Mohammed as Justice of the Supreme Court on grounds of gross misconduct by allowing himself to be sworn-in by the President of Nigeria, without the recommendation of the NJC.
