The
President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government has ordered the Chief Justice
of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen to immediately vacate
office. He will be arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on
Monday over alleged non-declaration of assets.
Ibraheem Al-Hassan, head of press
and public relations unit of the tribunal, disclosed this in a statement issued
on Saturday.
Al-Hassan said the arraignment
followed an application filed by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to the CCT
chairman on Friday.
He said a six-count charge had
been filed against the CJN.
“However, service of summons has
been effected to the defendant, the three man panel led by Justice Danladi Y.
Umar, will commence the trial on Monday, 14th January, 2019 at its courtroom,
situated at the headquarter, along Jabi Daki biyu, Saloman Lar way, Abuja, at
about 10:00am,” the statement read.
“The application was filed
yesterday by the operatives of CCB, dated 11th January, 2019 and signed by Musa
Ibrahim Usman (Esq) and Fatima Danjuma Ali (Esq), containing 6 count charges
all bothers on non declaration of asset.”
We had earlier reported that
there were moves to remove Onnoghen before the elections.
A civil society group,
Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI), had petitioned the
Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), listing a number of allegations against Onnoghen.
He was accused of maintaining
domiciliary foreign currencies account said to be contrary to relevant laws,
especially for public office holders.
The group said its petition,
dated January 7, 2019, became necessary “bearing in mind the imminence of the
2019 General Elections and the overwhelming roles of the Judicial Arm both
before and after”.
The petition was stamped
“received” by the office of the CCB chairman on January 9, 2019.
The CCB is empowered by the
constitution to investigate public officers, after which it would forward its
findings to the appropriate body for trial if the allegations are confirmed.
Onnoghen is not the first
prominent personality to be arraigned at the tribunal for non-declaration of
assets.
In 2015, a 13-count charge was
filed against Senate President Bukola Saraki but he was discharged and
acquitted two years later.
The supreme court under the
leadership of Onnoghen had ruled that there was no evidence to convict the
nation’s number three citizen.
No chief justice of Nigeria has
ever been subjected to trial, although the President Muhammadu Buhari
administration has charged judges to court over allegations of graft and money
laundering.
An early morning raid was
conducted by the secret police on the residences of some judges in 2016 and
substantial amounts of money in local and foreign currencies were recovered.
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