President Buhari Swears in Justice Walter Onnoghen as Acting CJN

President Muhammadu Buhari today swore in Justice Walter Nkanu Onnoghen as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria.

The Leadership reports that a brief inauguration ceremony witnessed by top government officials took place inside the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

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Justice Mahmud Mohammed retired after he attained the mandatory retirement age of 70 years. Justice Onnoghen is the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court after Mohammed.

Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen has been a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria since 2005 was born on December 22, 1950.

He graduated from the University of Ghana at Legon in 1977 and from the Nigerian Law School in Lagos in 1978.

Before joining the Supreme Court, he was a judge in Cross River State and a justice of the Court of Appeal.

Justice Onnoghen hails from Okurike Town, Biase local government area of Cross Rivers State and is expected to act until the name of the substantive CJN is forwarded to the Senate and it is confirmed.

If Buhari approves Onnoghen as the substantive CJN, he will become the first jurist from the southern part of the country to head the judiciary in about 29 years since the retirement of Justice Ayo Gabriel Irikefe in 1987.