L-R: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, President Muhammadu Buhari, and the
new acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen after his swearing
in on Thursday, Nov 10, 2016 | State House Photo
To
enhance the confirmation or ensure the non-confirmation of the Acting
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu
Onnoghen, as the substantive Chief Justice of the Federation is probably
the most important decision that President Muhammadu Buhari has to make
since he came to power almost two years ago.
If he gets it wrong and refuses to send
the Acting Chief Judges name to the Senate for confirmation there will
be long-term and far-reaching consequences, the first of which will be a
weakening of what is already a fast-eroding spirit and ethos of
national unity.
If he gets it right and sends the name
to the Senate for confirmation it will go a long way to ease the
palpable and existing tension in the land and it will be a good first
step towards restoring and enhancing national unity.
Simply put Buhari cannot afford to get
this one wrong if he is serious about keeping Nigeria one and if he has
ANY respect left for the people of the south.
Let us consider the facts. The first
southern lawyer (and indeed indigenous Nigerian) to be called to the
English bar was Christopher Sapara Williams in 1879.
By way of contrast the first northern lawyer to be called to the English bar was almost 80 years later.
He is still alive today, he is a
respected elderstatesman and his name is Alhaji Abdul Ganiyu Abdulrasaq
SAN. He is from Ilorin and he was called to the English bar in 1955.
Again the first southerner (and indeed
indigenous Nigerian) to be appointed a judge was Justice (Sir)
Adetokunboh Ademola in 1937. He later went on to become the first
indigenous Nigerian Chief Justice of the Federation.
By way of contrast the first northerner
to be appointed a judge came 30 years later. His name was Justice
Mohammed Bello and he was appointed as a judge in 1967. He also later
went on to become Chief Justice of the Federation.
Despite this massive disparity in terms
of education and the overwhelming seniority at the bar and the bench of
the southern lawyers and judges, the north has used the “federal
character” formula and the massive political power and executive fiat
that it has wielded over the last 56 years of our existence as an
independent sovereign nation to highjack the Judiciary.
This has been executed with such cold
and clinical precision and to such a point that no southerner has been
appointed Chief Justice of the Federation for 30 years!
The last one that we had that came from the south was Justice Ayo Irikefe who was Chief Justice from 1985 till 1987.
And now that we have Justice Onnoghen,
an eminently qualified southerner that is not only eligible for the job
but that has also been recommended by the National Judicial Council for
the position, our northern President has refused to transmit his name to
the Senate for confirmation as he is required to do by the
constitution.
If Onnoghen is not confirmed by the 10th
of February his nomination lapses, he will cease to be Acting Chief
Judge and he will retire from the Bench.
The next in line for the position of
Chief Justice of the Federation after him is yet another northerner and
once he is nominated by the National Judicial Council his name is likely
to be transmitted to the Senate for confirmation by our President.
In the event of President Buhari failing
to do so the next person in line for the job in terms of seniority is
again yet another northerner.
It is therefore very clear that once
Justice Onnoghen’s nomination lapses it is fair to say that the position
of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Federation will once
again return to the north.
And that is precisely the problem
because, given the fact that no southerner has held that position for 30
years, this can hardly be described as being reasonable or fair.
It is also pertinent to note that in the
entire history of our country the distinguished individual that the
Supreme Court itself presents and that is nominated as Chief Justice of
the Federation by the National Judicial Council has NEVER been rejected
by the President or Head of State.
If President Buhari fails to transmit
Justice Onnoghen’s name to the Senate for confirmation it will be the
FIRST time that this has EVER happened in our entire history.
This should be a matter of grave concern
for lawyers and judges from both north and south because it represents
an attempt by the executive arm of government to interfere in the
workings, machinery and decision-making processes of the third arm of
goverment which is the judiciary.
It represents a clear violation of the
principle of separation of powers and I am glad that Mr. Ebun Adegboruwa
SAN is testing the matter in court and attempting to compel President
Buhari to do the right and proper thing and forward the Acting Chief
Justice’s name to the Senate for confirmation.
Yet at the end of the day I doubt that
Buhari will listen and neither will he do anything of the sort. This is
because he understands the weakness and inability of most Nigerians to
successfully fight and insist on their rights.
He knows that most of our people are not
only weak, easily manipulated and easily intimidated but that they are
also very gullible.
The government will find some
nonsensical, absurd and indefensible rationalisation for its refusal to
do the right thing and support Onnoghen’s nomination and that will be
the end of the matter. Few will protest and even fewer will demand for a
reasonable explanation.
Sadly the following question must be
put: who really cares and who is prepared to confront the government and
raise any dust about this issue? The people are too weak and hungry to
say one word.
Their spiritual foundation and ability to say “enough is enough” has been broken.
They have turned their backs on the
Living God and the power of His might and instead opted to bow before
the demonic gods and Luciferian deities of “broomsticks” and “chanji”.
Southern Nigerians particularly have
been mesmerised and intimidated into accepting anything from their
government, no matter how belittling, demeaning, unreasonable or unjust
that thing may be.
Nothing reflects this perverse
disposition and this inherent inability to stand up for truth and to
fight against injustice than the conspiratorial silence that most
southerners indulge in when they are confronted with news of the
wholesale slaughter of young Igbos who are agitating for the creation of
Biafra under the banner of IPOB by our security forces and the genocide
being committed against northern Christians by the Islamist Janjaweed
Fulani militias of the core north.
I guess in their usual way, as with
virtually all other cases of injustice meted against the people of the
south, the southern elites, intelligensia and media will be too
self-centered, intellectually lazy, shortsighted and cowardly to speak
out and insist on a modicum of fairness in this matter and to insist on
the confirmation of Justice Onnoghen.
It is when they eventually understand
and come to appreciate the implications and consequences of their
gutlessness, indifference and stoicism that they will not only feel
sorry for themselves but they will also shed bitter tears of regret in
the privacy of their own bedrooms. And of course by that time it will be
too late.
Sadly the truth is that the majority of
southern leaders and politicians in Nigeria have already been enslaved
by the north in body, mind, spirit and soul. It is a tragedy of
monumental proportions.
Yet there is still hope. When core
northerners like the irrepresable Col. Abubakar “Dangiwa” Umar express
their concerns about the non-confirmation of Justice Onnoghen it puts a
lie to the suggestion that every Fulani man or indeed core northern
Muslim is an ethnic supremacist, a racist and a religious bigot who is
part and parcel of a sinister conspiracy to keep the south out of power.
A few days ago he said the following:
“In a few days, the tenure of acting
appointment of Justice Onnoghen will expire. Going by our extant
Constitution, the Acting CJN will be disqualified from appointment as
the substantive CJN unless the NJC resubmits his nomination to the
President.
Without providing any cogent and
plausible or believable reason for its failure to forward the name of
Justice Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation, the Presidency leaves
Nigerians guessing and speculating about the reasons. Already, many
analysts view this action as a ploy to deny a Southerner his right to
succession based on his seniority in keeping with the appointment
protocol observed by the NJC in making the appointment.”
He went on to say,
“In the event of this occurrence, the
NJC must not forward any other name nor should the Senate confirm any
other nominee. This will serve to check the excesses of this
administration and reinforce the unity of the nation which has already
been pushed to the precipice by the recruitment and appointment policies
of a government which tends to favour the north in violation of the
Federal Character provision of the Constitution.”
This is wise and appropiate counsel from
a Fulani prince of the Royal House of Gwandu for whom I have immense
respect. I sincerely hope that both the NJC and the Senate are
listening.
This is all the more so because Umar has
taken a considerable risk to his life and liberty by speaking truth to
power and speaking out against a government that is inherently weak and
nervous and that does not take any form of dissent or criticism lightly.
Yet “Dangiwa”, as Umar is popularly
known, is up to the task. I know him well. He was my Polo Captain at
Lagos Polo Club in the 1980’s and he was not only a fearless and
charissmatic leader then but he was also one tough cookie both on the
polo field and off it. We have had our differences in the past,
particularly over the Obasanjo government which I proudly served, but
despite that I have no hesitation in saying that he is a profoundly good
man
He is also a deeply courageous military
officer who has risked his life on numerous occassions by standing up
and speaking out against injustice.
For example it was he that arrested
General Muhammadu Buhari, the then military Head of State, in the 1985
military coup that brought General Ibrahim Babangida to power. After
that he was appointed Military Governor of Kaduna state.
He proved to be a forthright, honest,
consistent and righteous leader firstly when he was Governor of Kaduna
and secondly a few years later during his role in the June 12th struggle
when a southerner by the name of Chief MKO Abiola won a free and fair
presidential election in 1993 and was denied his mandate.
Dangiwa was one of the few voices in the
core north that not only opposed that outrage but he also paid a heavy
price for it: he lost his commission as an officer of the Nigerian Armed
Forces and his military career was utterly destroyed.
Despite being a core northerner and a
member of the Fulani ruling class he, together with a few others like
Sambo Dasuki, Sule Lamido, Kabiru Turaki SAN, Kashim Ibrahim Imam, Hadi
Sirika, Ahmed Makarfi and a few others, all of whom I have known for
many years, will forever remain friends of the oppressed northern
minorities, the people of the Middle Belt and the people of the south.
Thankfully it is not every core
northerner or Fulani man that shares the narrow world-view of men like
President Buhari who apparatly believes that the south is inferior to
the north and that she is not deserving or qualified to produce a Chief
Justice of the Federation.
This is undoubtedly the President’s
mindset despite the fact that a respected, formidable and brilliant
jurist in the person of Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen has been
nominated by the NJC for that position.
Some are of the view that President Buhari is simply biding his time and at the last minute he will submit Onnoghen’s name.
That remains to be seen and if it
happens I will not only be pleasantly surprised but I will be the first
to congratulate the President for displaying such wisdom and sagacity
and for doing the right and proper thing. Let us hope that he sees the
light and that it happens that way.
Anything less than that will divide us
even further and, unless we restructure, take us one step closer to the
eventual disintegration of our country.
Femi
Fani-Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical
christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public
Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006.
He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation
from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He tweets from@realFFK.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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