The Federal Government has
explained why it referred the matter involving the Chief Justice of Nigeria,
CJN, Walter Onnoghen to the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, and not the National
Judicial Council, NJC, to handle.
Minister of Information and
Culture, Lai Mohammed explained that the matter involving Onnoghen was alleged
breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, hence could not be referred
to NJC, as the latter lacked the capacity to handle such.
Addressing a press conference in
Abuja, on Monday, the Minister said going by the provisions of the
constitution, it was clear that Onnoghen’s decision to challenge the
jurisdiction of the CCT to try him was an abuse of court process.
Mohammed said: “It is unfortunate
that in the ensuing debate, the talk about due process has overshadowed the
talk about the substance. Procedure cannot or should not trounce substance.
That brings me to the role of the National Judicial Council (NJC). Some have
argued that the Justice Onnoghen issue should have been referred to the NJC to
handle. They would have been right if Justice Onnoghen had been accused of
professional misconduct, which is what is within the purview of the NJC. The
allegations against Justice Onnoghen go beyond professional misconduct. It is the alleged
breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers. And only one body is
statutorily empowered to deal with this: The Code of Conduct Tribunal.
“Interestingly, Justice Onnoghen
himself has elucidated on this.> In various judgments, he upheld the
provisions of the law concerning the CCT. In one particular judgement he
delivered on July 12, 2013, Justice Onnoghen held that the CCT had EXCLUSIVE
JURISDICTION (emphasis mine) to deal with all violations contravening any of
the provisions of the Code of Conduct Bureau. Let me put this in a layman’s
language: All breaches of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers must be
handled by the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Pure and simple. In other words,
Justice Onnoghen’s judgement held that the provisions “expressly ousted the powers
of ordinary regular courts in respect of such violations.”
“In a case between Ismaeel Ahmed
and Nasiru Ahmed, Congress for> Progressive Change (CPC), Chairman of the
Kano state chapter of the party, and the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), which has been reported by the media, Onnoghen, while interpreting
Paragraph 12 of the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as
regards CCT’s jurisdiction held that, “…the said paragraph 12 provides as
follows: ‘Any allegation that a public officer has committed a breach of or has
not complied with the provisions of this Code shall
be made to the Code of Conduct
Bureau.”
“The judgement, which was
delivered at the Supreme Court with suit> number ‘SC.279/2012’ before
Justices Onnoghen and others, also held that the provisions of the law are
clearly unambiguous. Justice Onnoghen said that the provisions are, “so
construed literally meaning that any breaches of any provisions of the said 5th
schedule or matters of noncompliance with any provisions of the Code shall be
made to the Code of Conduct Bureau that has established its Tribunal with the
exclusive jurisdiction to deal with any violations of any provisions under the
Code.”
“Is anyone still in doubt that
the CCT is the right court to try> the alleged breach of the Code of Conduct
for Public Officers levied against Justice Onnoghen? Is it not clear that
challenging the
jurisdiction of the CCT to try
him is an abuse of court process by Justice Onnoghen? As for those who argued
that the CCT is wrong in ordering Justice Onnoghen’s suspension, are they aware
that Justice Onnoghen himself disagreed with them? In the judgement I referred
to earlier, he wrote: “The Tribunal to the exclusion of other courts is also
empowered to impose any punishments as specified under sub-paragraphs (2) (a),
(b) & (c) of paragraph 18 as provided in sub-paragraphs 3 and 4 of
paragraph 18 while appeals shall lie as of right from such decisions to the Court of Appeal.” In
essence, the CCT is right to have directed Justice Onnoghen’s suspension, and
the President did the right thing by acting on the orders of the CCT. Needless
to say that in many of the cases of professional misconduct against judges that
Justice Onnoghen has presided over at the NJC, judges have been suspended while
still undergoing trial!”
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