Following the retirement of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed, after attaining the compulsory retirement age of 70, President Muhammadu Buhari has inaugurated the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court, Walter Onnoghen as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria.

The Federal Judicial Service Commission had on Wednesday, October 5 recommended Justice Onnoghen to the National Judicial Council, NJC, for onward recommendation to President Buhari.

Onnoghen, who will be 66 years old by December 22, is a native of Biase Local government area of Cross Rivers State.

He obtained his first Law degree from the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1977, with a second Class Upper Division, and attended the Nigerian Law School, Lagos.

He was a former Cross River State high court Judge before he was appointed an appeal court judge In 1998, and subsequently appointed to the apex court in 2005.

Onnoghen is expected to be in acting capacity until his name is forwarded to the Senate for confirmation.