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Nigeria's Suspended Chief Justice Plans to Retire, Lawyer Says

Nigeria's Suspended Chief Justice Plans to Retire, Lawyer Says

(Bloomberg) -- Walter Onnoghen has decided to step down as Nigeria’s chief justice, more than a month after he was suspended by President Muhammadu Buhari on the eve of general elections over allegations that he falsely declared his assets.

Onnoghen, 68, will retire following a recommendation by the National Judicial Council, one of his lawyers, Adegboyega Awomolo, said by phone late Friday.

“He believes in the rule of law, he believes in due process and provisions of the constitution as binding, that is the difference, and now that the appropriate authority has taken a decision, then he can also take a decision,” Awomolo said. “He never resigned, he gave notice of retirement.”

Buhari’s decision to suspend Onnoghen in January prompted criticism from the U.S. and the European Union. The Nigerian Bar Association said the president was trying to put someone compliant at the top of the Supreme Court in the event of a dispute over the election, which Buhari won. The opposition People’s Democratic Party has alleged that the election in Africa’s biggest oil producer was rigged and is challenging the results in court.

“There are precedents that it has set which will show for quite a while to come. It is a case of the executive getting its will done without following due process,” said Cheta Nwanze, head of research at SBM Intelligence in Lagos, the commercial capital. “There is no telling what someone will do in future.”

--With assistance from Elisha Bala-Gbogbo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tope Alake in Lagos at talake@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net, Karl Maier

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