NJC Commends Buhari’s Acceptance Of Onnoghen’s Retirement

Muhammadu Buhari

The National Judicial Council (NJC) has on Monday, commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s acceptance of the voluntary retirement of ex-Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.

Before his retirement, Mr Onnoghen was being tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for alleged false assets declaration.

Mr Onnoghen wrote a retirement letter in April after he was asked to do so by the NJC which probed a complaint that he abused his office by not properly declaring his assets.

Before then, he had been controversially suspended from office by President Muhammadu Buhari on the order of the CCT.

In a series of event that followed, Mr Onnoghen was later convicted by the CCT of false assets declaration. The CCT ordered that he be sacked from office and not allowed to hold public office for the next ten years. The CCT’s order came days after Mr Onnoghen wrote the retirement letter.

However, the president accepted his resignation.

While expressing satisfaction for the president’s decision to accept the voluntary retirement, the NJC noted that Buhari’s action “was in the best interest of Nigeria.”

The NJC, in a statement by its spokesperson, Soji Oye, said, “we have held an emergency meeting today to take formal note of the acceptance of the voluntary retirement of Hon. Mr Justice W. S. N. Onnoghen, GCON, as Chief Justice of Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.”

“Council at the end of its deliberations, thanked the president for the acceptance which was in the best interest of Nigeria,” Mr Oye said.

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