Justice-Onnoghen
Justice Onnoghen

 

The Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution, Okoi Okono Obia has advised Nigerians against reading ethnic and religious meanings to the delayed confirmation of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.

He stated this while reacting to the controversy generated by the delay in the confirmation of Onnoghen as the substantive CJN. He further urged Nigerians not to capitalize on the situation to blackmail the President. According to him: “We have an acting CJN of Nigeria. Well, if his tenure ends, the system will take of itself. I don’t think the President has done anything wrong. People are trying to read ethnic meanings, religious meanings and regional meanings to this because in Nigeria, everything is being looked at from the sectional perspective. I think they are not being fair to the President.”

On whether Onnoghen can still be re-appointed as Acting CJN, the Presidential aide called for patience, saying, “The system will take care of itself when the Acting CJN’s tenure expires.”

However, there are indications that the Presidency has now resolved to appoint Justice Walter Onnoghen as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria. A source close to the Presidency who asked not to be named reportedly told Leadership Newspaper that the Presidency and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, had a meeting with Justice Onnoghen at about 2 a.m last night.

“They presented to Onnoghen, the dossier the security agencies have on him to go through, showing why they delayed to confirm him.”

With this development, acting President, Yemi Osinbajo is expected to forward a letter on behalf of President Buhari to the Senate for Justice Onnoghen’s confirmation any moment from now.