Barring a late minute change, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Nkanu Onnoghen, has a date in court in Abuja tomorrow for alleged failure to declare some of his assets, including about $3million.
Onnoghen is scheduled to be arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
The Federal Government has already filed a six-count charge against him in that respect.
However, reactions have trailed the planned trial of the CJN at the CCt on Monday. While others see it as justice taking its course, others say it is an attempt by President Buhari to remove the CJN from office.
Read reactions below:
CJN’s prosecution shows no one is above the law –Sagay
But the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), says the planned prosecution of the CJN shows that no one is above the law.
Sagay told one of our correspondents that although the prosecution of the CJN was saddening, it had shown that Nigeria was slowly becoming a nation of laws.
The senior advocate also responded to the arraignment of the President of the NBA, Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), last year.
The PACAC chairman said, “It shows that in Nigeria, nobody is above the law. I do not rejoice neither am I pleased that such high officials are being probed or investigated but it shows that in Nigeria, the law is working and that the rule of law operates and that no one is higher than the law.
“That is the good aspect of it. Otherwise, I am not happy about it but if the reason arises why they should be investigated or invited and they are invited, it shows that the Nigerian legal system is working and that the rule of law operates but if it is you or I, you know that automatically, we will be indicted; but when the bigger guns in the country, who have all the power are also being indicted, it means it is a good sign for the rule of law in Nigeria.”
When reminded of the fact that the CJN would be arraigned before Danladi Umar of the CCT, who has also been accused of corruption, Sagay said the Federal Government had no other option.
He said, “I see a point. It is a sad reflection on the state of corruption in Nigeria but I think at the end of the day, everybody will come to justice and we will have a clean slate. This is the best we can do now.”
Agbakoba condemns planned CJN’s arraignment
Meanwhile, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has condemned the planned arraignment of Onnoghen on charges of non-declaration of assets.
Speaking on the development on Saturday, Agbakoba described the development as one of the most draconian breaches of the Nigerian Constitution ever witnessed in the country.
He said, “If this is correct, then it will be one of the most draconian breaches of the Constitution Nigerian has ever seen.
“In the event that the CJN is complicit in anything, there are only two procedures to deal with him.
“One is to lay an impeachment charge against him in the Senate and if he is found guilty, the Senate will proceed to remove him upon a prayer by two-thirds of the members of the Senate. That is the constitutionally-prescribed procedure.”
Opposition parties plan one million-man march
In the same vein, opposition parties on the platform of the Coalition of United Political Parties are planning a one million-man march to protest the planned trial of Onnoghen before the CCT.
The coalition’s first national spokesperson, Imo Ugochinyere, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday.
“Nigerian opposition will immediately commence mobilisation for a one million-man march to save the Nigerian judiciary from President Buhari’s reign of destruction,” he said.
He described Onnoghen’s planned arraignment as undemocratic and unconstitutional.
He said the plan was the latest in the strategies being deployed by the present administration to rig the forthcoming elections.
He added, “The Presidency had, during the appointment of Justice Onnoghen, shown its card that it was not comfortable with his appointment hence it was delayed until President Buhari was hurried out of the country due to perennial illness.
“Justice Onnoghen has since shown that he is fair, firm, and able to do justice and will not succumb to the pressure of a Presidency that is planning to rig an election as the only hope of winning a reelection following their rejection by the Nigerian people.
“This dastardly move by the Presidency is the last desperate act of an outgoing government to blackmail the CJN out of office and bring in a rogue judge to allow APC’s rigging.”
Buhari behind plot to remove Onnoghen –PANDEF
Reacting to the development, the President, Pan Niger Delta Forum, Chief Edwin Clark, said the South-South region would not accept the harassment and removal of Onnoghen.
He stated that the planned prosecution of Onnoghen was a ploy by Buhari to remove the CJN and install his candidate as CJN, adding that the move would be resisted by the Niger Delta people.
Clark said, “The news of the (planned) arraignment of the CJN came to us as a surprise. He has been doing his job satisfactorily; he is an intelligent man. But Mr. President, who never wanted him to be appointed, before the election, he now wants to remove him in order to put his own candidate as CJN so that after rigging the election, he would set up the tribunal that would try the case.
“If he didn’t declare his assets, there is a procedure. Why didn’t they follow that procedure? This harassment will not be accepted by us.”
A pro-democracy group, Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution, also said it would resist the planned removal of the CJN.
CDNDC, in a statement by its Convener, Ariyo-Dare Atoye, said, “From the outset, the despotic Buhari regime had fruitlessly sought to control and undermine the judiciary to do its illegal bidding, but it failed.
“The unfolding plot is part of Buhari’s plan to drive Nigeria into a closed society where only extremists can survive. We will mobilise Nigerians to resist another phase of assault on the judiciary.”
NBA condemns FG over CJN’s arraignment before CCT
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Saturday evening rose stoutly in the defence of the embattled Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, over his planned arraignment before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged non disclosure of foreign accounts. NBA warned the Federal government to stop “debasing the rule of Law.
Other Nigerian lawyers have also condemned the move by government, calling it “an en enthronement of fascism and dictatorship by the Buhari administration”. Many other lawyers further says it an attempt to destabilize the judiciary, 36 days to the general elections for President Muha,mmadu Buhari, and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the elections in their favour.
Others yet read an ethnic colouration to the arraignment, saying that the next Justice to Justice Onnoghen, Justice, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammed, is a northerner. The argued that President Buhari wants to install a northerner that will help him and his party in election disputes.
In a statement issued by the NBA President, Paul Usoro SAN, the body of lawyers says “Nigeria is witnessing the media trial of the CJN, which is a targeted assault of the judiciary”
Excerpts: “Nigerians have witnessed again the targeted assault of the judiciary by agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria (“FGN”) epitomized by today’s media trial of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Honorable Mr. Justice Walter S N Onnoghen, GCON (“CJN”). According to media reports which have now been validated by the Statement of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (“CCT”) that was released today an application was “filed by the Code of Conduct Bureau to the CCT Chairman yesterday for the trial to commence against the Chief Justice of Nigeria on six count charges” and that the CCT “will commence the trial on Monday, 14th January 2019”. The Nigerian Bar Association unequivocally condemns this assault, intimidation and desecration of the Judiciary by FGN agencies and demands that it be stopped immediately.
In Nganjiwa v Federal Republic of Nigeria (2017) LPELR-43391(CA), the Court of Appeal made it very clear that any misconduct attached to the office and functions of a judicial officer must first be reported to and handled by the National Judicial Council (“NJC”) pursuant to the provisions of our laws. Only after the NJC has pronounced against such judicial officer can the prosecuting agencies of the Federal Government proceed against him.
As the Court pointed out, these requirements of the law are anchored on the overriding principles of separation of powers between the executive, the judiciary and the legislature and on the need to preserve, promote and protect the independence of the judiciary. Our respective liberties and the rule of law are best protected and preserved if the judiciary remains independent and shielded from intimidation and assault by the other arms of the government.
In Nganjiwa v FRN (supra), the Court of Appeal made reference to Rule 3 of the Revised Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of February 2016 (“Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers”)and held that the said Rule 3 “makes provision in relation to fidelity to the Constitution and the Law”.
The provisions in regard to assets declaration as they apply to all public officers including the CJN are contained in both the Constitution and the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act 1991, the enabling law that establishes both the Code of Conduct Bureau (“CCB”) and the CCT.
The fidelity which judicial officers therefore owe “to the Constitution and the Law” pursuant to Rule 3 of the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers encompasses compliance with the provisions relating to assets declarations as contained in the Constitution and the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. Any infraction in that regard by a judicial officer, as the Court of Appeal rightly held, constitutes a misconduct by the judicial officer and becomes the subject matter for discipline by the NJC as a condition precedent to any possible prosecution of the judicial officer by any of the FGN’s prosecuting agencies.
4. Why has FGN decided to embark on this anomalous course of charging the CJN before the CCT without first presenting whatever facts it purportedly has against His Lordship to the NJC for its deliberation and determination? The Petition that triggered the CCB action was on its face received by the Bureau on 09 January 2019 and the Charge was promptly drafted and is dated the following day, 10 January 2019 – giving the CCB a record 24 hours for completion of its investigation and the drafting of the said Charge and ancillary processes!
If one contemplates the fact that the CCT arraignment is scheduled to take place on 14 January 2019, we have in total a record number of 3 (three) working days between the receipt and processing of the petition, investigation, preparation of Charge and ancillary processes and the arraignment! Such unprecedented speed and efficiency in Nigeria’s criminal justice administration! It is clear, given the rush with which this matter was conducted by the CCB, that the NJC was not privy to it and did not conduct its mandatorily required disciplinary processes prior to the filing of the Charge before the CCT.
We still wonder why the FGN choose to deviate from the laid down and explicit provisions of the law as expounded in Nganjiwa v FRN (supra). Could it be that it was misadvised? Or is this a naked show of power and force by agencies of the FGN? And why embark on the media trial of the CJN? This, unfortunately, is a predilection of the FGN’s prosecuting agencies with the possible exception of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
As the NBA pointed out in its International Anti-Corruption Day Statement that was issued on 09 December 2018 “media trial of persons charged with corrupt practices . . . amount to corruption itself. Indeed, those orchestrated media trials degrade and corrupt the justice administration system quite apart from the incalculable (but obviously intended) damage that it does to persons who may ultimately be discharged and acquitted.
In point of fact, it is corrupt practice to use as license or hide under the cover of the fight against corruption to recklessly destroy the names, characters and reputations of persons who have not been found guilty of corrupt practices by competent courts and who may ultimately be pronounced innocent of such charges.” These media trials must, alongside the on-going desecration and assault of the judiciary, cease forthwith.
There are two final issues that we must touch upon in this Statement, albeit, briefly. First, could it possibly be a coincidence that the current assault on the judiciary is taking place only weeks to the 2019 National Election? Apart from the conduct itself being wrongful and deplorable, its timing is condemnable.
FGN will find it difficult to convince any reasonable person that its assault against the CJN and by extension the judiciary is not aimed at emasculating that arm of the government and intimidating our Judges ahead of the 2019 National Elections. In our afore-referenced International Anti-Corruption Day Statement, the NBA had deplored “conducts that qualify as . . . political non-accountability, absence of transparency and impunity in public service.” The FGN’s conduct in this instance qualifies, amongst others, as “impunity in public service”.
As a final point, it is also difficult for a disinterested observer not to see a pattern of consistent assault by agencies of the FGN on the heads of the two independent arms of government, to wit, the legislature and the judiciary, starting with the prosecution of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, before the CCT and now, the ill-fated prosecution of the CJN before the same CCT.
The impression must not be created that the agencies of the Executive arm of the FGN are interested in destabilizing and laying prostrate the other arms of the Government and in the process eliminating and destroying any and all voices of dissent and checks and balances. That is not desirable for the democracy that we strive to build neither is it good for the image of the Government. We urge restraint on the part of Government and demand that the CCB follow due process in proceeding against the CJN by complying with Nganjiwa’s Judgment (supra) and other similar judicial precedents. This continuing attack on the justice sector must cease forthwith. FGN and its agencies must desist from debasing the rule of law”.
