The need for integrity in the judiciary and other sectors of public life dominated discourse yesterday as the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) found ex-Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen guilty of concealing assets.
Integrity among public officials important, say Utomi, lawyers
A Professor of
Political Economics, Pat Utomi, has called for integrity among public officers
in the interest of nation-building and unity.
He reacted to
yesterday’s conviction of ex-Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter
Onnoghen, of breach of Code of Conduct for public officers.
The Code of
Conduct Tribunal (CCT) chaired by Danladi Umar convicted Onnoghen, 68, and
ordered his immediate removal as the CJN.
The CCT stripped
him of all offices he occupied, such as the Chairman of the National Judicial
Council and Chairman of the Federal Judicial Service Commission.
The tribunal also
ordered the forfeiture of money in five accounts which Onnoghen failed to
declare as part of his assets.
The tribunal
equally ordered that he should not hold any public office for 10 years.
In an interview
with NAN, Utomi said: “The times suggest that the point that we have always
made about the importance of integrity is critical for nation building and
individual sense of unity.”
Mr Wale Ogunade,
a lawyer and the President of Voters Awareness Initiative (VAI), said that
Onnoghen’s conviction showed that no one should be above the law.
He urged that
corruption investigations should not be politicised.
He said: “For
such a step to be taken against a high ranking official, particularly against
the head of the judiciary, then there is smoke behind the fire, I knew
something was wrong and, indeed, he was found guilty.
“I was convinced
that he was guilty when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
wrote a petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC) which recommended his
resignation and so on.
“I was one of those who suggested, when he
started, that he should eat the humble pie and resign as an honourable man but
unfortunately he allowed himself to be misled by his kinsmen who believed that
it was politics.
“Law and politics
are like water and oil, there is no way you can mix the two, the law will
always stand and politics will fall like what you have seen.
“It also shows that there is no sacred cow; those who think they are above the
law now know they are under the law, it does not matter that you are the chief
law officer.”
SERAP urges CCB to release details of assets
of ex-presidents, ex-governors
Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has requested the Chairman, Code of
Conduct Bureau (CCB) Dr Muhammed Isah, to provide information on specific
details of asset declarations submitted to the bureau by successive presidents
and state governors since the return of democracy in 1999.
SERAP is seeking
information on: “details of asset declarations by successive presidents and
state governors between 1999 and 2019, including details of declarations made
immediately after taking offices and thereafter, and for those who have left
public offices, at the end of their term of office. Information is also sought
on the number of asset declarations so far verified by the CCB and the number
of those declarations found to be false and deemed to be in breach of the Code
of Conduct for Public Officers, by the Bureau.”
It urged the CCB
to disclose, by publishing on a dedicated website, details of asset
declarations submitted by presidents and state governors since the return of
democracy in 1999; details on the number of asset declarations so far verified
by the CCB and the number of those declarations found to be false and deemed to
be a breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers by the Bureau.
It also asked the bureau to
take cases of false asset declarations to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for
effective prosecution of suspects, and include banning the politicians involved
from holding public offices for at least a period of 10 years and seeking
refund of stolen public funds as part of the reliefs to be sought before the
Tribunal.
The request was
made under the Freedom of Information Act dated April 18, 2019, and
signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare.
SERAP gave the
CCB 14 days within which to grant its request, failure of which it said its
Registered Trustees would take all appropriate legal action under the Freedom
of Information Act to compel you to comply with our request.
The organisation
said it welcomed the judgment by the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Justice Walter
Onnoghen.
“We now urge the CCB to the extent its mandates to enforce constitutional
provisions on asset declarations by public officers to cover elected officers
and to vigorously pursue the prosecution of any such officers who use their
powers either as presidents or state governors over public funds to enrich
themselves.
“While judicial
corruption is bad, the level of corruption involving many politicians since
1999 and the entrenched culture of impunity of perpetrators is equally
appalling. Publishing the asset declarations of elected public officers since
the return of democracy in 1999 to date would improve public trust in the
ability of the Bureau to effectively discharge its mandates. This would, in
turn, put pressure on public officers like presidents and state governors to
make a voluntary public declaration of their assets.”
The request
further read in part: “SERAP is concerned that many politicians hide behind the
fact that members of the public do not have access to their asset declarations
to make false declarations, and to cover up assets illegally acquired in
corruption or abuse of office. The CCB can use the opportunity presented by the
Onnoghen judgment to increase the accountability of politicians through the
asset declaration provisions if it is not to be accused of witch-hunting the
judiciary.
“The persistent
refusal by successive presidents and state governors to make public their asset
declarations is entirely inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the 1999
Constitution and has been particularly harmful to the country and its people,
especially given the widespread evidence of grand corruption among politicians
holding public offices in Nigeria.
“The Nigerian
Constitution of 1999 (as amended) seeks to prevent corruption and abuse of
office through its provisions on the declaration of assets not just by judicial
officers but by all public officers including elected officers like presidents
and governors.
“Nigerians can
longer accept the excuse by high-ranking government officers that declaring
their assets before the CCB is enough, as such pretext is not supported by the
oaths of office by elected public officers. The failure by successive
presidents and state governors to voluntarily make public their asset
declarations would seem to suggest that they have something to hide.
“Given that many
public officers being tried for or convicted of corruption are found to have
made a false declaration of their assets, the CCB should no longer allow
politicians to undermine the sanctity and integrity of the asset declaration
provisions of the Constitution by allowing them to continue to exploit legal
gaps for illicit enrichment.”
“SERAP believes that while
elected public officers may not be constitutionally obliged to publicly declare
their assets, the Freedom of Information Act 2011 has now provided the
mechanism for the CCB to improve transparency and accountability of asset
declarations by elected public officers.”
“Asset
declaration forms are public documents within the meaning of section 109 of the
Evidence Act, and therefore, Nigerians are entitled to have access to such
information. SERAP urges the CCB to vigorously push for change in the law to
provide penal sanctions for politicians that fail to make public their asset
declarations.”
“SERAP notes that
provisions on the declaration of assets by all public officers in Nigeria are
entrenched in the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, contained in Part I of
the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. The primary objective is
to prevent corruption and abuse of office and to ensure transparency in public
officers.
“SERAP also notes
that public officers for the purposes of the Code include the President and the
Vice-President of the Federation, state governors and their deputies; the
President and Deputy-President of the Senate, the Speaker and Deputy-Speaker of
the House of Representatives and Speakers, the Chief justice of Nigeria,
justices of the Supreme Court, the President and justices of the Court of
Appeal, and other judicial officers and all staff of courts of law.”
Onnoghen’s conviction good for judiciary, says
ex-UN chief
A senior lawyer
and multilateral diplomat, Dr. Babafemi Badejo, said the conviction of Chief
Justice Walter Onnoghen by the Code of Conduct Tribunal was good for the
Judiciary.
He urged
President Muhammadu Buhari not to stop at Onnoghen but to remove other corrupt
judges.
Badejo, a former
Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General,
said: “The conviction of a serving Chief Justice of Nigeria is a sad day in the
annals of Nigerian history.
“It is a precedent that does not augur well for the entire nation within the
community of nations.
“If the Chief
Arbiter with respect to justice has been shown to be corrupt, then the world
would rightly continue to see most of us as corrupt.
“Judges are
everywhere expected to live for higher ideals and should not to be chasing the
same day to day crass materialism and have the same moral yardstick as the
thieves who claim to be our leaders.”
Badejo, a former
University of Lagos don, now a consultant to the African Union, said the
judiciary’s image needed redemption.
“All Nigerians
should support the position of the Ebun Sofunde Group of 20 SANs.
“We need to
redeem our image as a nation by seeing the conviction of Walter Onnoghen as a
necessary sacrifice for cleaning up the sins of our country.
“President
Buhari, as I said earlier and supported by the 20 SANs, should not stop at
Walter Onnoghen alone.
“To let ago
because Onnoghen has been removed would be unfair to the nation. It would be
injustice.
“The President
needs to give a free hand to the institutions we have to clean up the Supreme
Court and promote new clean judges to replace corrupt ones.
“Onnoghen should
be a clear indication to the world that President Buhari is not partial.
“He should carry
out the promises he has been making to Nigeria of giving the example of good
clean governance for Nigeria and Africa,” Badejo added.
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