11042019 - INSECURITY: Senate condemns killings; insists on State Police

22 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019
By Mike Ezekhome , SAN
I
knew it would come
sooner than later. When
Justice Walter
Onnoghen’s travails started in
January, I predicted that the
cabal was out to rubbish him.
They desired to bespatter him
with the paintbrush of shame,
odium and obloquy in such a
way as to make him visibly
unfit for the position of the
CJN. They went after his
jugular, using the CCB/CCT.
The CCT was unrelenting: it
discarded its earlier
precedents; ignored court
rulings barring it from trying
Onnoghen. It was the case of
the falcon not hearing the
falconer.
The Court of Appeal became
complicit. It refused to
deliver judgments in
Onnoghen’s cases argued
before it over six weeks ago.
Nigerians watched Onnoghen
being mob-lynched.
Onnoghen was tried in the
media, criminalized,
humiliated.
The Bench kept mute (as
usual). The Bar became lilylivered.
Lawyers whispered
in hush tones. Some even
supported Onnoghen’s
excoriation as if that
massaged their over bloated
egos.
So, Onnoghen, faced with the
reality of the situation, knew
that his faith had been predetermined
by the cabal,
signed, sealed and delivered.
Otherwise, how can NJC hold
that it decided not to delve
into the allegations, relating
to assets declaration levelled
against Onnoghen because
they were “subjudice”, yet,
convicted him on the
“compelling petitions”
written by EFCC and others,
when the said petitions
remained in the realm of mere
unproven allegations. I am
yet to be shown a Law that
makes allegations or
suspicion, no matter how
grave, a conviction against a
citizen of Nigeria, without
arraignment, trial or due
process. It was simply a case
of working from the question
to the answer.
So, Onnoghen did the
reasonable thing under the
circumstances. He invoked
section 306(1) of the
Constitution. He resigned.
The section provides as
follows:
“Save as otherwise provided
in this section, any person
who is appointed, elected or
otherwise selected to any
office established by this
Constitution may resign
from that office by writing
under his hand addressed
to the authority or person by
whom he was appointed,
elected or selected. (2) The
resignation of any person
from any office established by
this Constitution shall take
effect when the writing
signifying the resignation is
received by the authority or
person to whom it is
addressed or by any person
authorized by that authority
or person to receive it”.
By resigning, Onnoghen
08152060944
Onnoghen: The metaphor for a fractured nation
•Onnoghen
removed the wind from the
sail of his traducers. He
shamed them. He disallowed
them from humiliating him to
the last, dragging his name
further in the mud. Those who
are guffawing and
backslapping each other
should bury their heads in
shame. Onnoghen even saved
the spin doctors in the
presidency from bothering
about the nightmare of the
impossibility of garnering
two-third majority votes of a
rabidly independent <strong>Senate</strong>
to remove Onnoghen. That
would have been the 8 th
wonder of the world. This is
because of the provisions of
section 292 (1) of the 1999
Constitution, which state:
“a judicial officer shall
not be removed from his
office or appointment
before his age of
retirement except in the
following circumstances
– (a) in the case of – (i)
Chief Justice of Nigeria…
by the President acting
on an address supported
by two-third majority of
the <strong>Senate</strong>.”
To be sure, Onnoghen who
was suspended from office on
January 25, 2019, had
pointedly accused the EFCC of
levelling “malicious and
speculative” allegations
against him, concerning
alleged car and monetary
gifts, some as far back as
2008. It did not matter to
Onnoghen’s traducers that
there was no way Onnoghen
could receive gifts to pervert
the cause of justice in two
cases (mentioned by the
EFCC) that involved eminent
Justices such as Musa Dattijo
Muhammad, Clara Bata
Ogunbiyi, Kudirat Motonmori
Kekere-Ekun, Ejembi Eko, Sidi
Bage, Katsina-Alu (then CJN),
Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad
(Ag CJN), John Afolabi
Fabiyi, Olufunlola Adekeye,
Suleiman Galadinma and
Bode Rhodes-Vivor.
When you want to hang a dog,
simply give it a bad name.
How could Onnoghen have
influenced about 11 Justices
of the Supreme Court to
pervert the course of justice
with a mare car gift worth N7
million? One of the
allegations was that the sum
of N24 million which accrued
to him between 2017 and
2018 as estacodes and paid
through the Chief Protocol
officer of the Supreme Court,
one Ngozi Nwankwo, had
suddenly become a criminal
offence.
Onnoghen’s traducers did not
care that Rule 13.5 (2) of the
Revised Code of Conduct for
judicial officers (published
February, 2016), permits a
judicial officer to accept
“personal gifts or
benefits from relatives
or personal friends to
such extent and on such
occasion as are
recognized by custom”.
It was simply satanic to link
Onnoghen’s gifts with
If you terrorise,
intimidate,
harass and
humiliate the
judiciary, using
strong hand and
brute force, it is
a stage set for
bidding
democracy
farewell.
Supreme Court cases in
which he did not even sit as a
member, simply because one
of the counsel who gave him
gifts appeared before the
above mentioned justices
during the period in question.
A strong judiciary is one of
the irreducible fundamental
platforms for any meaningful
constitutional democracy. If
you terrorise, intimidate,
harass and humiliate the
judiciary, using strong hand
and brute force, it is a stage
set for bidding democracy
farewell.
The phoney and ridiculous
charges against Onnoghen
are that Onnoghen failed to
declare his assets, and that he
also maintains domiciliary
accounts, contrary to the
provisions of the Code of
Conduct Bureau Act.
Domiciliary accounts are not
foreign accounts. What the
construction forbids are
foreign accounts, not local
domiciliary accounts.
It is clear to any objective
observer that the charges
against Onnoghen were
highly political, and designed
to intimidate the Judiciary
ahead of the 2019
presidential election and
force out Onnoghen, who, as
the CJN, would play a major
role in the system to entertain
disputes arising from the
presidential election.
Many facts bear this simple
deduction out. The
petitioner, an NGO, actually
committed the Freudian slip
by anchoring its petition on
“bearing in mind the
imminence of the 2019
general elections and the
overwhelming role of the
judicial arm both before and
after…”. The second fact is
that even after
recommendation of
Onnoghen as CJN by the NJC
on 13 th October, 2016, it
took VP Osibanjo the courage
to appoint him as CJN on 1 st
March, 2017, after protests
and outcry by overwhelming
majority of Nigerians, and at
a time PMB was actually
abroad on medical vacation.
Three, Onnoghen
became the first
Southerner to be made
CJN in 30 years, after
the last Southerner,
Justice Gabriel Ayo
Irikefe, occupied that
exalted office in 1987.
Four, Onnoghen had been
CJN for well over a year. How
come the Executive
suddenly woke up from a
deep slumber and
discovered his operation of
domiciliary accounts years
before he was appointed
CJN, which accounts,
according to the petition,
had been in existence since
2011, a period during which
the CJN had already been a
Justice of the Supreme Court
since 2005?
When have Nigerian security
agencies optimised and
displayed such efficiency
that a petition written by an
NGO on 7 th January, 2019,
received by CCB on 9 th
January, 2019, was acted
upon with such “automatic
alacrity” that by 11 th
January, 2019, charges
had been filed against
Onnoghen. And wait for it, he
was arraigned on Monday,
14 th January, 2019, all
within one week! What of the
provisions of the Code of
Conduct Bureau (CCB) and
Code of Conduct Tribunal
(CCT) Act, which prescribe
certain necessary steps that
must be taken before a
charge is filed?
How come the CCT granted
an ex parte order not moved
by any lawyer on record to
order a sitting CJN to “step
aside” from office? What
would be the final
punishment at the end of the
trial?
This onslaught is to finally
cow and annihilate the
Judiciary, the last hope of the
common people. Nigerians
now appear to live in
bondage of dictatorship and
absolutism. Citizens now talk
in whispers, afraid of even
their shadows. Only those
who support the
government, however
corrupt, find peace. Like
Naaman the leper, who was
deeped into River Jordan
seven times and became
cleansed of his leprosy, all
that a corrupt politician
needs to do to be washed
clean of his political leprosy
(as white as snow), is to
decamp to the ruling APC.
He would be embraced
immediately, given a front
pew, inducted into the hall of
fame, and put in charge of
leading Buhari’s presidential
campaign.
Some Nigerians are still
playing the Ostrich in the full
glare of this clear and
present danger, behaving
like the “Chichidodo” bird
talked about by the Ghanaian
author, Ayi Kwei Armah, in
his epic novel, “The
beautiful ones are not
yet born”.
Continues on page 29
C
M
Y
K