Onnoghen: Buhari Acted Without Lawful Authority, Wifa Affirms

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barinua Moses Wifa has said that President Muhammadu Buhari acted without lawful authority in the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen.
Wifa, who stated this during a live radio programme monitored by The Tide, in Port Harcourt, last Monday, wondered if the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN, advised the President and that what he did under the provisions of the Constitution.
The legal luminary further said that from the President’s comments while swearing in Tanko Mohammed as the acting CJN, he wanted Onnoghen removed.
“I want to know if the Attorney General did advise him (Buhari) and what he said in the advice to the President, that under this provision of the Constitution, you can act unilaterally, if there is no such provision.
“What the President has done is to come to a determination as to his guilt or otherwise of the situation, in swearing in Justice Tanko Muhammed, who is the next in status to the CJN. It is there in his statement, and you could see the purpose and motive clearly stated out there.
“He (the President) said under his (Onnoghen’s) watch, so many persons who are corrupt have been set free. I think it is quite clear from there that he wanted Onnoghen removed. I think he acted without lawful authority. We are trying to practice a constitutional democracy. Some people say that this is a nascent democracy. I do not think so. We have been there for the past 58 years.
“Part of the reason it is difficult for us to get it right is because of what I may call the Nigeria DNA. We are enmeshed in our tribal, ethnic, religious and political enclave,” the SAN argued.
He noted that some of those defending the President’s actions were doing so based on sentiments, saying, “I see what the President has done purely within the context of the Constitution, that he is wrong,” pointing out that “the Judiciary is supposed to be insulated from the other departments of state: Executive and Legislature.
“That is why you have the National Judicial Council at the centre and you have the State Judicial Service Commissions, including the Federal Judicial Service Commission. The purpose was deliberately to insulate the Judiciary from actions of the Executive.
“So, what has the President done? He claims from what I read in the media to be acting on an order of the CCT. Is that valid or not? Whatever it is, let us assume that it is valid. He now on the basis of that suspends the CJN contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.
“Contrary in the sense that he does not have such powers. I do not want to read any motive into what people have said because the President cannot act outside the Constitution. He must be able to point to something in the Constitution that authorizes him to act the way he has acted, and I do not see it,” he argued.
“The scheme of the Constitution from Section 153 to the Third Schedule to all the parts, it is only the National Judicial Council (NJC) that has powers to exercise disciplinary control. If the President says I was given an order, I do not want to enter into any dispute as to whether that order is valid or not. But there are certain persons who are questioning his legality.
“Is there any provision of the law that once a court has made that determination, then he can act unilaterally on it? Where is it? It is not there! So, he either has to go to the Senate of the National Assembly to say ‘look I have this order from the court, and I think based on the indictment contained in the ruling, I want to remove the CJN’.

Dennis Naku