A lawyer, Mr Malcolm Omirhobo has withdrawn the suit he filed in the Federal High Court, Abuja, challenging the non-confirmation of Justice Walter Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Omirhobo withdrew the suit as the matter had been overtaken by events.
When the matter was called up on Tuesday, counsel to Omirhobo, Mrs Chinyere Okpala, told the court that the prayers her client was asking for had been granted in part.
Okpala also told the court that although some of the prayers had been achieved, she prayed the court for a short adjournment to amend her originating summons to reflect the current realities.
According to her, “we feel there are still issues to be addressed because the prayers have been answered in part for instance the issue of separation of powers.’’
Mr Y.M. Edeh, counsel to the National Judicial Commission (NJC), the fifth defendant in the matter, on his part prayed the court to dismiss and strike out the matter.
Edeh said this was on the grounds that the matter had become hypothetical and an academic exercise since what they approached the court for had already been done.
“I apply that the matter be struck out because for instance they are asking for a declaration of the court that by virtue of Section 331(1), that the President in appointing the Chief Judge of Nigeria, must act on the recommendations of the NJC.
“And that was exactly what the President did; also that as the head of the executive arm, he should not hand pick the head of the judiciary and he did not hand pick,” Edeh said.
Justice John Tsoho said that unless there was a specific point on violation of powers, the issue of separation of powers raised by Okpala had been sufficiently taken care of by the constitution.
He also noted that the specific prayer the suit was seeking was the appointment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, adding that that had been taken care of.
Tsoho said that he had expected that Omirhobo would from the onset of the matter apply to withdraw the suit since it had been overtaken by events and not seek to amend the prayers.
According to the judge, if this was a classroom, “then you can try to impress your students by arguing that the confirmation came late, but this is a court and we have other serious issues to attend to.’’
He therefore struck out the case, following the application of Okpala to withdraw the matter.
Omirhobo had gone to court challenging the constitutionality of President Muhammadu Buhari’s inability to transmit the name of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria to the National Assembly for confirmation.
Named as defendants in the suit were the President, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the National Judicial Council and Justice Walter Onnoghen.(NAN)
WS/OU