Buhari may reject Onnoghen's retirement and opt to sack him without any benefits when he returns

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari may refuse to accept Justice Walter Onnoghen's voluntary retirement and opt instead to have him dismissed and prosecuted by the Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC) when he returns from the Middle East.

Last week, Justice Onnoghen, the former chief judge of Nigeria (CJN) sent his resignation letter to President Buhari ending months of intrigue and litigation. However, Adegboyega Awomolo, who is the lead counsel to Mr Onnoghen in his false assets declaration trial, said that the CJN decision is a retirement and not a resignation from office.

In January this year, President Buhari suspended Justice Onnoghen and replaced him with Justice Tanko Mohammed, who was sworn-in as the acting chief judge of Nigeria. Over recent months, Justice Onnoghen has been involved in intense political jockeying with the government that involved him being charged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) with false asset declaration.

However, last week, things took a turn for the worse when President Buhari was advised by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to retire Justice Onnoghen based on findings by the EFCC. In what appeared to be the final straw, Justice Onnoghen decided to quit after the NJC made its recommendation but he submitted his quit notice to the presidency while President Buhari was away in Jordan for a conference.

Presidency sources say, however, that President Buhari is determined to take urgent and concrete action on the Onnoghen matter to serve as a deterrent to other top government officials who use their offices to engage in untoward activities. President Buhari is expected to make a pronouncement on Justice Onnoghen as soon as he returns from the Middle East where he had gone to attend several meetings bordering on investments and security.

One government official said it was left for President Buhari to accept the resignation of Justice Onnoghen and allow him to be accorded with all the perks associated with the office of the CJN or sack him for misconduct and make him to lose all his entitlements as a top judicial officer, including a retirement mansion in Abuja. He added, however, that whatever the case, the criminal prosecution is likely to continue.

“One thing you can be sure of is that Buhari will not shield Onnoghen from the EFCC, which has already drawn up a case against him,” the official said. Meanwhile, while the EFCC acting chairman Ibrahim Magu appears to have succeeded in ousting Justice Onnoghen, powerful hawks in the government who feel threatened by his rising influence in the system, have launched a renewed bid to edge him out of office before May 2019.

This anti-Magu movement, which comprises top government officials in the executive, National Assembly and some powerful outgoing governors with corruption cases pending against them, feel that allowing him to stay in office with President Buhari in his second term, would make him too powerful to control. Many outgoing politically-exposed persons are said to be jittery that Mr Magu was likely to go after them once they leave office next month and must therefore be stopped.