Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Walter Onnoghen has urged judges to always be courageous and firm in taking decisions in the course of their official responsibilities.
Onnoghen warned that the future of the country and its democracy were at risk where judges fail to take “very hard decisions”, when they are required to do so.
The CJN hailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s exhibition of rare courage in consenting to the elevation of Justice Uwani Musa Abba-Aji to the Supreme Court from the Court of Appeal.
Onnoghen spoke in Abuja yesterday while swearing in Justice Abba-Aji as a new Justice of the Supreme Court.
Justice Abda-Aji, who was until her elevation, the Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division, spent 14 years in the court.
She now raises the number of women at the Supreme Court Bench to four. Others are Justices Mary Odili, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and Amina Augie.
Onnoghen’s commendation of Buhari’s exhibition of courage is not unconnected with the controversy generated by the decision of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to nominate Justice Abba-Aji for elevation.
Justice Abba-Aji was among some judges, who the NJC suspended in the wake of the pre-dawn raid on some judges’ houses in late 2016 by security operatives.