21 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT JUSTICE ONNOGHEN THE 17th CHEIF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA(CJN)
Earlier today, The acting President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Oshinbajo inaugurated Justice Onnoghen as the 17th CJN. dailyfamily.ng has put together for you here, 21 Facts you should know about him, they are:
1) His Full Name is Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen
2) born 22 December 1950 is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria since 2005
3) He is From Okurike Town, Biase, Cross River
4) He is from Biase Local Government Area of Cross Rivers State
5) He attended the Presbyterian Primary School, Okurike Town between 1959 and 1965.
6) Higher education Onnoghen was at Accra Academy, Accra Ghana between 1972 and 1974 for his WAEC (A-Levels)
7) He proceeded to the University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana between 1974 and 1977 to obtain his Bachelor of Law Degree (LL.B (Hons)) and graduated with 2nd Class Upper Division.
8) He attended the Nigerian Law School in Lagos in 1978.
9) Before joining the Supreme Court, he was a judge in Cross River State
10) Nominated by Muhammadu Buhari
11) He was Preceded by Mahmud Mohammed
12) Nominated Supreme Court by Olusegun Obasanjo
13) The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday 7th of March inaugurated Justice Walter as the CJN
14) Onnoghen is the 17th Chief Justice of Nigeria.
15) After a screening session that lasted about an hour, the Senate had on Wednesday 1st March,2017, confirmed his nomination as the CJN’s
16) He is the first Southern jurist to head the judiciary in about 30 years.
17) Justice Ayo Gabriel Irikefe who retired in 1987 was the last Southern CJN.
18) HIS CAREER
– High Court Judge, Cross Rivers state Judiciary (1989 – 1998)
– Chairman, Cross Rivers state Armed Robbery and Fire Arms Tribunal (1990 – 1993)
– Chairman, Judicial Enquiry into the crisis between students of the University of Calabar and Obufa Esuk Orok community, Calabar (1996)
– Chairman, Failed Bank Tribunal, Ibadan zone (1998)
– Judge, High Court of Rivers state (1992 – 2004)
– Justice of the Court of Appeal (1998 – 2005)
– Justice of the Court of Appeal (1998 – 2005)
19) HIS PROMISE
Justice Walter Onnoghen, said he would ensure the independence of the judiciary to check the rate of corruption in the country.
20) Land mark Cases:
He made history in Nigeria on April 11, 2014 when he, alongside some of his colleagues, made a landmark pronouncement in the case of two Igbo women, Gladys Ada Ukeje and Maria Nweke, who argued that they should have equal access as men to the inheritance of their parents.
In Igbo culture, women had been disinherited for ages as a result of tradition.
The two women sued the men in their families – and finally got justice as the case moved from the lower to the highest courts in the land.
He also upheld the death sentence meted out to Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, known as “Rev. King”, the general overseer of Christian Praying Assembly, who was accused of murdering a member of his church in 2006.
Futhermore, it was Onnoghen, who annulled Yar’Adua’s election in December 2008 and called for a fresh one, after the then Gen. Buhari argued that the election was rigged.
However, his decision, alongside other colleagues, did not hold as they did not have the required number of Justices to pull the judgment through.
21) He will clock 70 on December 20, 2020.
The day he is expected to retire
