{"id":14517,"date":"2019-01-12T13:52:57","date_gmt":"2019-01-12T13:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=14517"},"modified":"2019-01-12T13:52:57","modified_gmt":"2019-01-12T13:52:57","slug":"confirmed-alleged-non-declatration-of-asset-cct-schedules-14th-january-for-arraignment-of-justice-onnoghen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=14517","title":{"rendered":"Confirmed! Alleged Non declaration of asset: CCT Schedules 14th January for arraignment of Justice Onnoghen"},"content":{"rendered":"

History will be made Monday when a sitting Chief Justice of Nigeria will be brought before a “court” to answer charges.
\nThe Code of Conduct Tribunal has scheduled Monday, 14th of January for the commencement of trial against current Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justce Onnoghen Nkanu Walter Samuel for alleged non-declaration of asset.
\nA statement by Ibraheem Al-Hassan,
\nHead, (Press & Public Relations),
\nCode of Conduct Tribunal Headquarters Abuja states further: “This was consequent to application filed by the Code of Conduct Bureau to the CCT Chairman Friday for the trial to commence against the Chief Justice of Nigeria on six count charges.
\n“However, service of sumoms 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, Salomon Lar way, Abuja, at about 10:00am.
\n“The application was filed yesterday by the operatives of CCB, dated 11st January, 2019 and signed by Musa Ibrahim Usman (Esq) and Fatima Danjuma Ali (Esq), containing 6 count charges all borders on non declaration of asset.”
\nMeanwhile, online newspaper, TheCable is reporting how a\u00a0 civil society group, Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI), launched the legal move against Onnoghen.
\nBelow are details of TheCable story:
\nARDI has petitioned the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), listing a number of allegations against Onnoghen \u2014 notably false declaration of assets.
\nThe group said its petition, dated January 7, 2019, became necessary \u201cbearing in mind the imminence of the 2019 General Elections and the overwhelming roles of the Judicial Arm both before and after\u201d.
\nThe petition was stamped \u201creceived\u201d by the office of the CCB chairman on January 9, 2019.
\nThe 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.
\nWhat are the core allegations?<\/strong>
\nARDI said Onnoghen \u201cis the owner of sundry accounts primarily funded through cash deposits made by himself up to as recently as 10th August 2016 which appear to have been run in a manner inconsistent with financial transparency and the code of conduct for public officials\u201d.
\nIn the petition seen by TheCable, the group said Onnoghen made five different cash deposits of $10,000 each on March 8, 2011, into Standard Chartered Bank Account 1062650; two separate cash deposits of $5000 each followed by four cash deposits of $10,000 each on June 7, 2011; another set of five separate cash deposits of $10,000 each on June 27, 2011, and four more cash deposits of $10,000 each the following day.
\nThe campaigners said Onnoghen did not declare his assets immediately after taking office, contrary to section 15 (1) of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act; and that he did not comply with the constitutional requirement for public servants to declare their assets every four years during their career.
\nAlso alleged against him is that his Code of Conduct Bureau Forms (Form CCB 1) for 2014 and 2016 were dated and filed on the same day and the acknowledgement slips were issued for both on December 14, 2016 \u2014 at which point, they said, Onnoghen had become the CJN.
\nOnnoghen assumed office as CJN on March 6, 2017.
\nARDI alleged that prior to 2016, Onnoghen appeared \u201cto have suppressed or otherwise concealed the existence of these multiple domiciliary accounts owned by him, as well as the substantial cash balances in them\u201d.
\nThese account balances were listed against his name by ARDI:
\nThe Standard Chartered Bank dollar account 1062650 with a balance of $391,401.28 on January 31, 2011
\nThe Standard Chartered Bank Euro account 5001062686 with a balance of EURO 49,971 .71 on January 31, 2011
\nThe Standard Chartered Bank pound sterling account 5001062679 with a balance of GBP23,409.66 on February 28, 2011.
\n\u201cIt is curious that these domiciliary accounts were not declared in one of the two CCB Forms filed by Justice Onnoghen on the same day, 14th December 2016,\u201d the group said.
\nARDI said it believed its petition had established cases of \u201csuspicious financial and other transactions against His Lordship, collusion between His Lordship and various banks related to Suspicious Transactions Reporting (STR) and financial transactions not justifiable by His Lordship\u2019s lawful remuneration at all material times\u201d.
\nWhat happens next?<\/strong>
\nThe Code of Conduct Bureau, according to section 3 (e) of the Third Schedule (part 1) of the 1999 constitution, shall \u201creceive complaints about non-compliance with or breach of the provisions of the Code of Conduct or any law in relation thereto, investigate the complaint and, where appropriate, refer such matters to the Code of Conduct Tribunal\u201d.
\nHowever, since judicial officers are disciplined by the National Judicial Commission (NJC), it is unlikely the CCB will refer his case to the Code of Conduct Tribunal if the allegations are found to have substance.
\nIt could be referred to NJC, of which Onnoghen is the chairman, but he would have to recuse himself from the process.
\nIf found guilty, he could be asked to vacate his office as CJN, in addition to other punishments.
\nNo 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.
\nAn 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.
\nWhat is the link to elections?<\/strong>
\nARDI linked its petition to the elections and the role the judiciary plays in the final outcome, and this could lead to speculation that it is a preemptive move against the bench.
\nThe group said it is \u201cinevitable that His Lordship is also by these acts a likely hostage to the sources of these funds and beholden to or generally corrupted by their clandestine interests which might prove injurious to the Judiciary which he heads, and by extension the nation\u201d.
\nARDI in the past defended actions by Buhari \u2014 including the alleged purchase of $496 million aircraft from the US without due process.
\n\u201cThe president\u2019s only sin is that he did not seek the approval of NASS for the release of the fund; he did not embezzle it. For anyone to think of impeachment process against him is not right. We have many problems at hand. Violation of a constitutional provision is bad but it is worse to act in an immoral manner,\u201d Dennis Aghanya, the executive secretary, said at the time.
\nWhat does Onnoghen think?
\nWhen contacted, Awassam Bassey, media aide of Onnoghen, said he had not seen the petition and would not want to comment on the issue.
\n\u201cI have no comment whatsoever to make on this issue. If the petition was sent to the Code of Conduct Bureau, then they are in the best position to state if the CJN declared his assets or not,\u201d he told TheCable via telephone.
\nAsked to react to the allegations of foreign accounts, Bassey said: \u201cI have just told you that I haven\u2019t seen the petition. How can I comment on an issue that I don\u2019t know the genesis? I have no comment whatsoever. Thank you.\u201d
\nIn September 2017, Bassey had said Onnoghen had nothing to hide and was open to investigation.
\n\u201cIt is the first time he is being aware of any allegations or intelligence against him, neither has he been invited or called upon to offer any explanation on any impropriety. However, the Hon. CJN wishes to assure the public that he has nothing to hide and is open to investigation,\u201d he had said.
\n\u201cAs a committed patriot who has spent all his adult life in the temple of justice, the Hon. CJN is ready to pay the required price to make the nation a better place.\u201d
\nA senior lawyer told TheCable that the ruling party \u201cdoes not trust Onnoghen to do their bidding in rigging the elections and giving judicial affirmation to their shenanigans, as you can see in the court cases that have gone against APC in recent weeks\u201d.
\nA former governor from the south-south is allegedly behind the petition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

History will be made Monday when a sitting Chief Justice of Nigeria will be brought before a “court” to answer charges. The Code of Conduct Tribunal has scheduled Monday, 14th of January for the commencement of trial against current Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justce Onnoghen Nkanu Walter Samuel for alleged non-declaration of asset. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}