President Muhammadu Buhari has accepted the voluntary resignation of former chief justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.

This was disclosed in a statement by Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman on sunday.

“President Buhari has accepted the voluntary retirement from service of Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen as chief justice of Nigeria, effective from May 28, 2019.

“The president thanked Justice Onnoghen for his service to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and wished him the best of retirement life,” Shehu wrote in a statement on his social media page.

Meanwhile, President  Buhari has written the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, to initiate the process of appointing five new justices of the Supreme Court.

The statement quoted Buhari’s letter thus,  ‘‘Pursuant to the provisions of Section 230(2) A&B of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), I am pleased to request that you initiate in earnest the process of appointing additional five Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to make the full complement of 21 Justices as provided by the aforementioned provisions of the Constitution.

‘‘This is in line with the government’s agenda of repositioning the Judiciary in general and Supreme Court in particular for greater efficiency, with a view to reducing the backlogs of appeals pending at the Supreme Court.

‘‘Please accept, your Lordship, the assurances of my highest regards.’’