JUST IN: Again, I have not resigned, says CJN, Onnoghen

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, who was
suspended by President Muhammadu Buhari last Friday, has debunked
the rumour gaining traction online on Monday that he has
resigned.

Onnoghen, whom President Muhammadu Buhari replaced with the next
most senior Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Mohammed,
as Acting CJN, debunked the rumour in a statement on Monday.

The statement was signed by his media aide, Awassam Bassey, who
described the CJN’s rumoured resignation as “fake news circulated
by mischief makers.”

“Mischief makers are still circulating this fake news. Once
again, no truth in it whatsoever. The Hon CJN, Hon Justice Walter
Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, GCON, has not resigned,” Bassey said.

The rumour came less than 24 hours to the emergency meeting
summoned by the National Judicial Council to deliberate on
Onnoghen’s suspension and Muhammad’s emergence as the Acting
CJN.

The Buhari administration has since Friday, come under scathing
and widespread criticism locally and from the international
community for being ill-timed, coming in the eve of the imminent
general elections.