Suspension Of Nigeria’s Chief Justice, Justice Onnoghen Breaches Human Rights- U.N.

The United Nations has condemned described the suspension of
Nigeria’s chief justice by )president Muhammadu Buhari, saying it
broke international human rights standards on independence of the
judiciary and the separation of powers.

“International human rights standards provide that judges may be
dismissed only on serious grounds of misconduct or incompetence,”
said Diego Garcia-Sayan, the U.N. special rapporteur on the
independence of judges and lawyers.

Buhari, who was a military ruler in the 1980s and was voted into
office in 2015, is hoping to win a new term in a presidential
election scheduled to take place on Saturday.

Any decision to suspend or remove a judge from
office should be fair and should be taken by an independent
authority such as a judicial council or a court.

The chief justice could preside over any dispute over the
election result. Nigeria’s judiciary has helped resolve electoral
disputes in past votes, some of which have been marred by violence
and vote rigging.

“Any decision to suspend or remove a judge from office should be
fair and should be taken by an independent authority such as a
judicial council or a court.’‘

Garcia-Sayan, who is mandated by the U.N. Human Rights Council
to investigate legal and judicial independence, said dismissing
judges without following legal procedures or offering a chance to
contest the decision was incompatible with the independence of the
judiciary.

Legal battles
Buhari suspended Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen on Jan. 25 following
an order by a tribunal on public officials’ conduct and replaced
him with Ibrahim Tanko Mohammad.

But four courts superior to the tribunal had already ordered a
stay of proceedings and the tribunal had previously said it lacked
jurisdiction over cases involving judicial officers, Garcia-Sayan
said.

The U.N. statement said some of the judges and the defence
lawyers involved in Onnoghen’s case had been subject to serious
threats, pressures and interference.

Nigerian Army Clears the Air on Mass Retirement of
Officers

The attention of the Nigerian Army is drawn to publication
trending in the social media and some sections of the mainstream
media about the retirement of some officers from the service of the
Nigerian Army. While it is true that the Nigerian Army recently
advised some categories of Officers to apply for voluntary
retirement from service, the number being flaunted is far from the
truth. Equally not correct is the assertion that those affected
were mostly Officers who attended the Nigerian Military School,
Zaria.

While this is strictly a service matter, it is essential to
address this deliberate misinformation being peddled to erroreneous
information. It is important to note that pursuant to Rule 020810
Paragraph 1 of the Public Service Rules (PSR) of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 2008, the compulsory retirement age for all
Grades in the service shall be 60 years or 35 years of pensionable
service whichever is earlier. Also, rule 020810 paragraph 2 of the
same PSR provides that no officer shall be allowed to remain in
service after attaining the retirement age of 60 years or 35 years
of pensionable service whichever is earlier.

In the same vein, chapter 1 section 4 paragraph (P) of the
Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service Officers 2017 (Revised)
states that military service of an officer is a period of unbroken
service in the Armed Forces of Nigeria from the date of commission
to the date of retirement from service. This period of unbroken
service covers date of enlistment into service as
soldiers/ratings/airmen for Regular Commission, Short Service
Commission, Direct Short Service Commission, Direct Regular
Commission, Executive Commission Officers including other
Commissions.

It is in the light of these aforementioned provisions that the
affected Officers were advised to apply for voluntary retirement to
avoid being considered for compulsory retirement by the Army
Council. Suffice to also state that contrary to the misinformation
being peddled, the Officers so advised cut across all category of
commissions in the Nigerian Army and must have met either of these
criteria as espoused in the aforementioned provisions of the
law.

It is therefore wrong, not true and deliberately misleading to
allege that most of the officers so advised were those of the ex-
boys of the Nigerian Military School Zaria.

Retirement do not necessarily follows Commission. Several
Officers have silently proceeded on retirement on attainment of the
provisions of the law. Every officer and soldier knows when his
date of retirement or run out date is due and as such prepares for
it.

The media is hereby advised to verify information from the
appropriate source before rushing to press to avoid fake news that
is not credible and also misleading the public.

Aliyu Yusuf
Colonel for Director, Army Public Relations