The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) case
against the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Walter Onnoghen,
was triggered by a petition from a civil rights group, Anti-Corruption
And Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI).
A CCB investigator, Mr. James Akpala, said in an affidavit in support of
the charges against Justice Onnoghen that the filing of the case
stemmed from a petition against the CJN.
Akpala was silent on the name of the petitioners.
He merely said: “I know as a fact that the Head Office of the Bureau
received a petition alleging that the CJN failed to declare his assets
according to the law.”
ARDI describes itself as “a whistleblower and Anti-Corruption Awareness
disseminator, whose effort is to strengthen our democracy and ensure
transparent, accountable and responsive governance devoid of corruption
for our society.”
It is run by Dennis Aghanya, who served as a media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari between 2009 and 2011.
Aghanya was also the pioneer National Publicity Secretary of the defunct
Congress for Progressive Change on whose platform Buhari contested the
2011 presidential election.
The ARDI petition dated January 7, 2019 was received two days later by
the CCB, according to online publication, The Cable, shortly before the
news of the impeding trial of Onnoghen broke yesterday.
The civil society group said its petition was necessitated by “the
imminence of the 2019 General Elections and the overwhelming roles of
the Judicial Arm both before and after.”
It claimed that Onnoghen owns “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.”
It alleged that Onnoghen made five cash deposits of $10,000 each on
March 8, 2011 into Standard Chartered Bank Account 1062650; two separate
cash deposits of $5000 each and four deposits of $10,000 each on June
7, 2011.
Five similar cash deposits of $10,000 followed on June 27, 2011, and another four deposits of $10,000 each the following day.
Onnoghen, according to the petition, failed to 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.
It added that the CJN appeared “to have suppressed or otherwise
concealed the existence of these multiple domiciliary accounts owned by
him, as well as the substantial cash balances in them.”
It said the CJN’s financial transactions appeared suspicious and not
justifiable by his lawful remuneration at all material times.
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