Chidi Samuel|
The federal government through the office of the attorney – general of the federation (AGF) has submitted a list of criminal allegations against Justice Walter Onnoghen to the NJC ahead of the emergency meeting of the National Judicial Council (NJC) on Tuesday.
Sources at the ministry of justice confirmed that the petition contains a number of damaging allegations against the suspended CJN, including bank statements and title deeds of properties said to have been traced to him.
According to one of the sources, the figures involved are in billions of naira and several millions of dollars — as well as dozens of houses.
According to the senior official, “The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) did not file these criminal allegations against the CJN at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) because it is a separate issue from non-declaration of assets.”
“Nevertheless, the more serious criminal allegations have now been fully investigated. These allegations point to unexplained wealth. The entire bundle has been sent to the NJC so that the body can do its job and allow Onnoghen to face criminal prosecution. That is a completely different matter from the case of non-declaration of assets before the CCT.”
The national judicial council (NJC) were set to meet earlier last week and members were already in Abuja for the meeting when they received tersed text messages informing them of indefinite postponment of their meeting at the instance of the CJN, Walter Onnoghen.
Onnoghen, who is facing a six-count charge at the code of conduct tribunal for non-declaration of some of his accounts was suspended from office last Friday by President Muhammadu Buhari on the orders of the code of conduct tribunal.
He was replaced by Justice Tanko Muhammad who was sworn-in as acting chief justice of the federation last Friday.
The suspension of Onnoghen has received mixed reactions from within and outside Nigeria.
The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) on Monday said it will embark on a two-day strike from Tuesday to protest the CJN suspension.
The national assembly also said on Monday that it has approached the supreme court to challenge the suspension of Onnoghen, even though the ruling APC caucus in the assembly has distanced itself from the move.
With additional report from TheCable