Buhari didn’t need NJC to appoint me – Acting CJN, Tanko Muhammad

The acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, has
claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari does not need the
permission of the National Judicial Council to appoint him as the
acting CJN.

Muhammad made the claim in response to a query given to him by
the NJC, the body constitutionally empowered to recommend the
appointment of chief justices and heads of courts.

A group, Centre for Justice and Peace Initiative, had written a
petition to the NJC, asking the council to remove Muhammad as a
justice of the Supreme Court for allowing himself to be sworn in by
the President without recourse to the NJC.

In his response, however, Justice Muhammad said the NJC ought to
be consulted only when a substantive CJN is being appointed or
re-appointed.

He said, “In my respectful view, the National Judicial Council
has no role to play in the appointment of an acting Chief Justice
of Nigeria in the first instance, that is to say on first
appointment. The council comes in where the appointment as the
acting CJN is to be renewed or extended. I humbly refer to Section
231(4) of the 1999 Constitution.”

Muhammad noted that Justice Walter Onnoghen remained the
substantive CJN, adding that the latter was only suspended.

The acting CJN said if the Appeal Court or the Code of Conduct
Tribunal reversed Onnoghen’s suspension, he would immediately step
aside and return to his former position as a justice of the Supreme
Court.

He added, “It was for the larger interest of the judiciary and
the constitutionality that I accepted to be sworn in as acting CJN
with the conviction that if the order of January 23, 2019 is
eventually set aside, the status quo would be restored.

“But before it is set aside, there should be no vacuum in the
office of the CJN and the chairman of the NJC.”

Recalling how he was sworn in by the President, Muhammad said he
was summoned to the Presidential Villa by Buhari and shown the
certified true copy of a motion ex parte granted by the CCT and
signed by its Chairman, Danladi Umar.

He said, “On January 25, 2019, I was summoned to the Aso Villa
at the instance of the President. Prior to the summons, I was not
aware of the fact that the Code of Conduct Tribunal made any order
on January 23, 2019.

“Furthermore, beyond what I read in the newspapers and watched
on the television just like any other Nigerian, I was not
privileged to see any of the processes filed by the parties before
the tribunal. Hence, I could not really appreciate the merit or
demerit of divergent positions.

“On the 25th day of January, the President swore me in as the
acing CJN and not as the substantive CJN. Justice Walter Onnoghen
remains the CJN until he is removed from office in accordance with
the provision of the constitution. He is only suspended.”

He, however, said he had nothing to do with the speech delivered
by the President wherein the latter accused Onnoghen of frustrating
his anti-corruption war.

Muhammad admitted that he 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 Abia State
Government without a recommendation of the NJC.

He, however, said his own case was different because he was only
appointed as an acting CJN.

Muhammad further stated that the substantive head of the
judiciary had been suspended by a valid court order which made it
right for him to take over in acting capacity.

The acting CJN therefore appealed to the NJC to dismiss the
petition written against him.