The president has powers to appoint, remove Justices – Obono-Obla reacts to NJC’s claim of being independent

As reactions keep trailing the last Saturday’s arrests of some judges in the country over alleged corruption and manipulation of justice, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, on Prosecution and Legal Matters, Chief Obono-Oba has said that the National Judicial Council, NJC, should not give the impression that the Judiciary is absolutely independent and not accountable to other arms of government.

Obono-Obla was reacting to the claim by the NJC that the judiciary is independent of the executive arm.

The NJC, in its first meeting after the arrest of the judges, said a raid on their houses was an abuse of power on the part of the security operatives, adding that the council has constitutional power to discipline its members.

Obono-Obla agreed that the three arms of government have their various roles but noted that each one checks the other.

He pointed out that even though the Supreme Court, Federal High Court and Appeal Court Judges are recommended by the NJC, they are appointed by the president.


He said in a Statement, “However, these functions and responsibilities do overlap and sometimes are duplicated!

“In theory each branch of government is supposed to be independent, however in practice each branch act as a check and balance on one another.




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