NJC Sets Up 5-Man Panel To Investigate Onnoghen, Mohammed

The National Judicial Council (NJC) has set up a 5-man panel to look further into the petitions filed against Justices Walter Onnoghen and Tanko Mohammed.

Justice Onnoghen was suspended as the CJN and replaced immediately with Justice Tanko Mohammed, who is the CJN in acting capacity.

The NJC received petitions against both senior judicial officers after allegations of a false declaration of assets on Onnoghen and an alleged shunning of the constitution by Tanko Mohammed’s decision to accept the CJN role.

The NJC revealed in a statement that there’s a new petition against Justice Mohammed from the Action People’s Party.

Read the NJC’s statement below;

”In continuation of its Emergency Meeting, the National Judicial Council accepted the result of the preliminary assessment of the petitions against Hon. Mr. Justice W. S. N. Onnoghen, GCON and Hon. Mr. Justice I. T. Muhammad, CFR that the petitions were worthy of further investigation and should not be terminated under Rule 17 of the Judicial Discipline Regulations of the Council.

Consequently, the council constituted a five-member Investigation Committee pursuant to Rule 20 (1) of the Judicial Discipline Regulations under the Chairmanship of Hon. Mr. Justice S. A. Akintan, CON, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

A new petition against Hon. Mr. Justice I. T. Muhammad, CFR, by the Action People’s Party (APP) was referred to the Hon. Mr. Justice for his comments within an abridged 7-days.

Council directed the Investigation Committee to work expeditiously, determine all the petitions and responses and report to Council for a final decision.”