The National Judicial Council on Wednesday constituted a five-man panel to investigate the allegations levelled against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Onnoghen, and the acting CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad.
The panel is to be headed by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice S.A Akintan, who like other members of the committee, is a member of the council.
NJC’s Director of Information, Soji Oye, said in a statement that the council took the decision after accepting “the result of the preliminary assessment of the petitions” written against the duo.
He said the council considered the “petitions to be worthy of further investigation and should not be terminated under Rule 17 of the Judicial Discipline Regulations o the Council”.
“Consequently, the council constituted a five-memberNJC Investigation Committee pursuant to Rule 20(1) of the Judicial Discipline Regulations under the chairmanship of Hon. Mr. Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria,” the statement said.
It added that a new petition was filed against Justice Muhammad by the Action People’s Parting, adding that the council gave the acting CJN “abridged seven days” for his “comments”.