THE Presidency finally bow to pressures from Nigerians and various pressure groups after it forwarded the name of Justice Walter Onnoghen for confirmation to the Senate yesterday.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo forwarded his name to the Senate President for confirmation as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria on Tuesday requesting the upper chamber to screen and confirm Justice Onnoghen barely two days to the expiration of his tenure as the acting CJN.
Meanwhile, the Senate is currently on recess, it would be left to Senate President to decide whether to reconvene the Senate to kick-start the screening process before Justice Onnoghen’s tenure as acting CJN lapses on Friday or the National Judicial Council (NJC) could renew Onnoghen’s tenure in acting capacity as an interim measure while the Senate goes about the screening and confirmation exercise.
However, there are indications that the NJC will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to recommend the increase or renewal of Justice Onnoghen’s tenure as the acting CJN for the Senate to go about its business of screening him at its own pace when resume from recession.
It will recalled that the Acting CJN Walter Onnoghen was the most senior Judge in the Supreme Court and he replaced Justice Mahmud Mohammed, who attained the mandatory 70 years retirement age. He was sworn in by the President Muhammadu Buhari as the Acting CJN on November 10, 2017.
