The National Judicial Council (NJC) may reconvene next week to consider the extension of the tenure of the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad.
The NJC met on Wednesday and Thursday but could not arrive at a decision to recommend the extension of Justice Muhammad to President Muhammadu Buhari until a substantive appointment to the office of the CJN is made.
A source yesterday told Daily Trust that because no decision was made on the matter, the council is likely to reconvene immediately after the Easter break to decide on the tenure, which will lapse on April 25.
Justice Muhammad was appointed by the President on January 25 following an ex parte order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) asking Justice Walter Onnoghen to step aside over his trial on allegations of false asset declaration.
Section 231(4) of the 1999 Constitution empowers the President to appoint the most senior justice of the Supreme Court if the office of the CJN became vacant, while sub-section 5 provides that such an appointment will lapse after three months without NJC’s recommendation.
The section reads, “Except on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, an appointment pursuant to the provisions of subsection (4) of this section shall cease to have effect after the expiration of three months from the date of such appointment, and the President shall not re-appoint a person whose appointment has lapsed.” (Daily Trust)
