From Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has called on Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, to send the name of Justice Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) without further delay.
The delayed confirmation of Onnoghen, he said, was detrimental to the unity of the country. His words: “Prof Osinbajo, a lawyer himself, should know that it is dangerous to the unity of Nigeria and sustenance of democracy that it is now being insinuated that Justice Onnoghen is being denied appointment as substantive CJN on the basis of ethnicity and politics.”
In a statement issued on Saturday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said it was strange that President Muhammadu Buhari chose to appoint Justice Onnoghen as acting CJN when it was obvious that the National Judicial Council (NJC) had endorsed his appointment 28 days before the immediate past CJN, Justice Mahmud Mohammed retired.
He said, “We are not fighting for Justice Onnoghen as an individual. Rather, we are fighting for Nigeria and the sanctity of the office of the CJN which for the first time in the history of judiciary in Nigeria is being used to play political and ethic games.”
“It should not be seen as if Justice Onnoghen was denied of his appointment as a substantive CJN because he is from the South-South or that they want to use his pending appointment as substantive CJN to make him do their biddings,” Fayose added.