Nigerians woke on Friday 25th January 2019 to the news that the government of President Muhammad Buhari's has suspended the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Onnoghen and immediately sworn in Justice Muhammad Tanko as acting CJN. The President justified his actions by virtue of an order obtained exparte from the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) purportedly on 23rd January 2019.
The first baffling aspect of this scenario is that on 22nd January 2019, the CCT adjourned it's proceedings after ruling on the applications of both the prosecution and defence. The defence had filed an application challenging the CCT's jurisdiction to hear the matter. The prosecution had also filed an application for the removal of the CJN. I followed the minute-by-minute account of the CCT's proceedings on this date. After a one-hour break, the CCT delivered it's ruling to the effect that it is of coordinate jurisdiction and thus not subject to the restraining injunctions from the Federal High Court and the National Industrial Court. Therefore, it will continue to sit on the matter.
The CCT also held that the issue of jurisdiction remained unresolved, and until it is resolved, it would be dangerous to proceed with the prosecution's application for the removal of the CJN.
Lastly, having been notified that there was a pending appeal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, the CCT concluded that the appeal should be allowed to take its course.
Thereafter, the CCT adjourned to Monday 28 January 2019 for hearing of Defendant's preliminary objection. However, the following day, the Court of Appeal granted an interim order restraining the CCT from proceeding with the matter.
Now, what is both baffling and incomprehensible to me is that, the CCT, after adjoining a matter in the open, would go behind to grant an ex parte application at the back of the defence. Worse is that this is the same prayer in the application on notice filed by the prosecution (which was adjourned) that has now been granted exparte. In my over two decades of active legal practice, I have never witnessed such. This is nothing but a travesty of justice. And it is totally atrocious. I strongly believe that we shall hear revelations surrounding this evil machinations in the coming days.
More appalling is that the perfidious exparte order was obviously obtained after the Court of Appeal granted the order restraining the CCT from proceeding with the matter. Some have termed the CCT action as judicial rascality. But I say this is judicial time-bomb. The timer of this bomb has been set by the judiciary while the bomb is being handled by the executive.
And the President purportedly acted on this 'jankara' order! Nothing demonstrates the Federal Government's desperation to remove the CJN at all cost (and for whatever motive) more than this issue. The deception, evil schemings, and legal dribblings of the past few days has now come to the open. All the speculations about the attempt to perfect the steps towards a smooth rigging permutations of the forthcoming elections have now been given life.
And I dare say that the President's action is nothing but a coup detat against the Nigerian people. The subtle and devious moves have the negative implications of derogating our constitution. Suspending the CJN (albeit illegally), in my opinion, tantamounts to suspending the Nigerian constitution.
I urge President Muhammad Buhari to retrace his steps on this matter. There is still an opportunity to redress the situation and undo what has been done. This singular act has the propensity of setting the nation ablaze. This country has never been so divided, and a little spark may ignite an uncontrollable conflagration. The President spent several years contesting the presidency and he should not go down in history as the last president of the country. And even if he is able to manoeuvre the present situation, he should remember that history may not judge him kindly. There's is still time to make amends.
And this is a call to all well-meaning Nigerians to rise up against this travesty. This act should not go the way of previous absurdities in our land, where the people only shout for a while and then the issue is overtaken by another absurdity. The NBA, in protest, should call for a total boycott of the Supreme Court as headed by Justice Tanko, until this situation is reversed.
The judicial arm itself should stand up and assert itself. This is a fight for independence. It is not the time to sulk and surrender in helplessness. The judiciary did it during the military era. They can do it again.
Lastly, the international community must go beyond merely issuing statements condemning the present situation. They should take proactive steps to forestall any outbreak of violence in Nigeria. The ripple effects are too horrible to imagine. If it will take the Laurent Gbagbo treatment to prevent the looming humanitarian crises, so be it.
This coup must not stand.
Manuel Akinshola Esq.
