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ON THE PLANNED ARRAIGNMENT OF CJN ONNOGHEN ON MONDAY, 14th JANUARY 2019



The planned arraignment of CJN Walter Onnoghen on Monday, 14th January 2019 before the Code of  Conduct Tribunal is motivated, not by the altruistic motive to fight corruption in the judiciary but by a unitarist, tyrannical and totalitarian motive to intimidate, overawe and subdue the judiciary to do the bidding of the APC-controlled Federal Government in view of the impending 2019 elections and the electoral litigations that may follow. This political motive is expressly disclosed in the petition written by Anti- Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI) which is headed by a former media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari and founding member of The Buhari Organization (TBO), Dennis Aghanya.



For the avoidance of any doubt, the petition by the ARDI stated that the petition was necessitated "bearing in mind the imminence of the 2019 general elections and the overwhelming roles of the judicial arm both before and after".

The Federal Government ought to know that it can hardly successfully sustain the charges against CJN Onnoghen at this stage and the planned arraignment is merely a weapon of subjecting the judiciary to undue influence of the Executive arm of government.That the planned arraignment of CJN Onnoghen is purely aimed at coercing the entire judiciary to unconditional and awful influence  of the Executive arm can be seen in the decision of the Court of Appeal in Nganjiwa v. F.R.N (2018) 4 NWLR (Pt.1609) 301, which held that no serving judge can be tried in any court of law prior to facing an administrative disciplinary procedure before the N.J.C and being removed by the Executive arm of government pursuant to a finding of guilt and recommendation for removal/dismissal by the NJC.

Though judges are not above the law and are definitely not above being prosecuted on grounds of allegations of infractions of the law, the law as it stands today is as stated in the case of Nganjiwa which has not been set aside by the apex court.

The planned arraignment of C.J.N Onnoghen is therefore unconstitutional, unlawful, arbitrary and tyrannical.

When the executive arm of government seeks to overwhelm the legislative and the judicial arms, the ultimate outcome is an enslaved society.

Whether the Federal Government goes ahead to press the charges against C.J.N Onnoghen or withdraws same, their goal has been achieved and the  end result is unmistakable: The judiciary is operating under an atmosphere of fear. Other judicial officers are bound to draw the necessary lesson: if the procedure and the law in removing the judicial officer can be jettisoned where the CJN is concerned, the fear of the Executive is the beginning of wisdom.

We would take the Federal Government seriously about its fight against corruption when Mr. President discloses and refunds the unappropriated amount spent on his medical tourism, when the friends of Mr. President within and outside Aso Rock,  including those involved in the campaign for his re-election are prosecuted on allegations of corruption against them, when the sale of public assets are reversed on grounds of corruption as established by the Senate Committee, and so on.

Femi Aborisade

Comments

  1. Unknown13 January 2019 at 06:51

    Thank Mr Aborisade. Lone voice that speak justice must not be silenced.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown13 January 2019 at 07:06

    Those who sow fear will eventually reap what they sow. It is a matter of time. The demystification of this government was concluded a long time ago. There is nothing new except the growing knowledge that we are in a one chance bus. But one truth that is unassailable is that no one can call the shots forever. No condition is permanent. Their turn on the other side of the barrel of the gun will come.

    ReplyDelete

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