Judiciary: Onnoghen and Buhari’s leprous legacy

By Pius Mordi

When Muhammadu Buhari capped his onslaught on the judiciary with his unilateral removal of then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen, his political allies allowed politics to becloud their sense of respect for the constitution and separation of powers.

Buhari tested the waters when under the guise of fighting corruption in the judiciary, he orchestrated a series of invasions of the homes and privacy of the homes of judges, especially in the unholy hours of the night.
It was a successful test that was aided and abetted by a hypothetical mantra that change had come from the one dubiously called ‘mai gaskiya’.

When he moved for the final kill by going for the head of a co-equal branch of government, all the checks and institutional hurdles had been effectively breached and compromised. The removal of Walter Onnoghen was an episode that presented the opportunity to reform the National Judicial Council (NJC) and give it a measure of independence. As the CJN is the chairman of the NJC, the moment the substantive Onnoghen was removed and Ibrahim Tanko Mohammad, the direct beneficiary of Buhari’s adventure was enthroned, the NJC also lost its voice. How could Ibrahim Tanko Mohammad truncate his unearned privilege by letting any group advocate that NJC should ask for adherence to the rule of law in the face of vicious attacks from the former president? The body was now in an identity crisis.

Buhari’s ignominious playbook has now come in handy for the Benue State government and the House of Assembly as they seek to remove the state chief judge, Justice Maurice Ikpambese. The charges against him are as murky and amorphous as the allegations of corruption Buhari levelled against Onnoghen. Abuse of office, misappropriation and mismanagement of the budgetary allocation and finances of the state judiciary, engagement with politicians and political office holders for favourable judicial outcomes, and indirect participation and incitement of industrial actions against the state executive were the principal allegations against the Chief Justice.

The main factor was the array of stakeholders and forces aligned against him. The Benue State House of Assembly, Benue All Progressive Congress (APC) Elders’ Forum and the executive branch were all in the collaborative effort to oust Ikpambese. The state branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the NJC lead the alliance of stakeholders seeking to save the Chief Justice’s job alongside the Benue caucus of members of the National Assembly.
Having already dubbed the suspension of Ikpambese a scam, illegal and unconstitutional the NJC has taken a stance it is condemned to see through.

The statement attributed to Sen. Barnabas Gemade, leader of the Benue APC Elders Forum, that the removal of Ikpambese was legal has aptly shown that the embattled chief justice is dealing with politics and his perceived infractions by politicians. That the state NBA has, with agreed NJC that procedural steps have been circumvented by the state’s lawmakers underscore the fact Ikpambese’s travail is all about politics.

With an old war horse like Sen. Gemade embedded on the scheme to nail the embattled chief justice, his fate seems sealed.
But politicians cannot be left to ride roughshod over the judiciary the way lawmakers have become lapdogs of the executive branch. The Ikpambese case is one of the ignoble legacies of Buhari that must not be allowed to fester. The incomprehensible use of technical terms by the CJ’s traducers.

Defending route taken to remove the Chief Justice without recourse to the NJC or giving the chief legal office a hearing, the Benue State lawmakers argued that “the House did not recommend the removal of CJ as a judicial officer but as the CJ of Benue as provided by the law.
“The House did not originate any petition against the CJ, therefore, it has no business with the NJC because the law only empowered them to act on the address of the governor, which they did,’’ he said.

Ominously, however, that the 13 members who dissociated themselves from the decision were summarily suspended is a reckless abuse of power, the charge the House levelled against the Chief Justice. What is going on in Benue that was under the PDP in the previous administration but still under repeated deadly attacks from gunmen even after the ruling party took over does not bode well for respect for rule of law.

It is a leprous legacy from the Buhari years that will haunt the judiciary. It is up to the NJC and other stakeholders to gird their loins and see through the constitutional reforms geared towards giving true independence to the judicial arm of government.

Postscript

*Thank you, Canada*

In 2014, Prince Harry, son of late Princess Diana and Duke of Sussex, organised the first ever Invictus Games in London. It is an international sporting event for wounded, injured, and sick military personnel.

The word invictus comes from the Latin and means “unconquered” or “undefeated”. It embodies the fighting spirit of the participating men and women, as well as their motivation to move on with their lives, to gain a new place in life, and to not let themselves be defined by the trauma they have suffered.

After the inaugural edition in London, the multi-sport games have held in five other cities and in 2025 returned to Canada in Vancouver, having been held in Toronto in 2017.

Nigeria’s wounded personnel were the only ones invited from Africa. Unfortunately, what dominated the news was the denial of visa to Defence chief, Christopher Musa and his entourage. National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, was beside himself with dubious rage that Canada denied entry to Musa. Go to hell, the NSA told Canada.

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, was no less indignant, describing the action as “disrespectful”.

In the jostle show that a big man had been disrespected, it is lost on them that most of the athletes got their visa and the country is proud of the games.

What mattered was that the Chief of Defence Staff could not go to Vancouver to “provide a significant morale boost for the troops” as the Defence spokesman put.
In this period when saving scarce foreign currency was imperative, the visa denial saved some money…and the athletes excelled. That’s what mattered.

Thank you, Canada.