UPDATE 1-Nigeria's Buhari suspends chief judge who faces allegations over assets

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari suspended the country's most senior judge and replaced him with an acting chief justice on Friday, weeks ahead of an election in which the judiciary could play an important role. The suspended chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, is the head of Nigeria's judiciary which has helped resolve electoral disputes in past votes, some of which have been marred by violence and vote rigging. The chief justice could preside over a disputed election result.

Buhari, who was a military ruler in the 1980s and was voted into office in 2015, will seek a second term in an election scheduled to take place on Feb. 16. At stake is control of Africa's top crude oil producer which has one of the continent's biggest economies. Onnoghen has been asked to appear before a tribunal over allegations of breaching of asset-declaration rules, but has not responded to the charges and his lawyers say the tribunal does not have the authority to try him.

"I hereby suspend the CJN following an order of the CCT (Code of Conduct Tribunal) directing me to suspend CJN Onnoghen, pending the completion of his trial," Buhari said. Tanko Mohammed, a judge from the northeastern state of Bauchi, is the acting replacement.

On Thursday an appeal court issued an interim order to halt charges being brought against him. A media aide to Onnoghen did not immediately respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment. A spokesman for the main opposition People's Democratic Party said it would provide a comment "soon". (Reporting by Felix Onuah; Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Toby Chopra)