Elder statesman and leader of the Ijaw nation, Chief Edwin Clark, has alleged that former President Muhammadu Buhari, and former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), oppressed and humiliated former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.
According to Clark, Buhari removed Onnoghen at all costs in order to get away with “the mess and mischievous things they wanted to carry out” during the 2019 presidential election.
Clark stated this in a letter addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, on Sunday, where he commended the judgment of the Court of Appeal acquitting Justice Onnoghen of all charges of false declaration of assets, following a settlement agreement with the Federal Government.
He faulted the suspension of the former CJN by President Buhari, noting the constitutional provision that placed the power to appoint and suspend a CJN in the hands of the President, the National Judicial Council, and the National Assembly.
The Ijaw leader also urged President Tinubu not to allow sacred cows to exist in his government, noting that the constitution did not provide immunity for life for a former President.
Clark said, “As for the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, in his own case, ‘a Daniel has come to judgment’. I knew he was not fairly treated; he was oppressed and humiliated by President Muhammadu Buhari and his Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
“At this juncture, let me say this: President Tinubu’s government must not allow sacred cows to exist in Nigeria, no matter whose ox is gored. There is no one who is above the law in his own country. A president of a country is just one of the ordinary members in the country, but once elected, enjoys immunity. There is nowhere therefore in the constitution or any legal document where it is stated that immunity is for life.
“Today in Nigeria, we have corrupt Presidents and some of them today are accusing their successors of corruption without looking back at what they themselves stole while in office but no one dares to touch them. Perhaps, it is an irony of fate for the former CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, who was one of the Supreme Court Justices whose judgment favored President Muhammadu Buhari in his presidential election case in the Supreme Court in 2011.”
Clark also alleged that the former President removed Onnoghen from his position as CJN prior to the 2019 general elections because of “the mess and mischievous things they wanted to carry out,” during the elections, again describing Buhari’s actions as “disgraceful, callous, unjust and so barbaric”.
“He (Buhari) allowed him to rise to the post of CJN but he saw that, that was not good enough for him because if Justice Onnoghen was to remain the CJN, the mess and mischievous things they wanted to carry out during the presidential election in 2019, Justice Onnoghen would not accept it and the best thing was to remove him, and this was the secret plan between President Buhari and his Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
“The show of shame that took place at the time was so disgraceful, callous, unjust and so barbaric that instead the President of Nigeria, who swore to an oath of office that he would maintain security and welfare of Nigerians, chose to stoop so low in order to humiliate a fellow Nigerian because he wanted to be President of Nigeria at all costs for a second term. It is a shame which Nigeria has just recovered from,” he stated.
The former Commissioner for Information faulted the silence of the Nigerian Bar Association and the National Judicial Council during the ousting of the former CJN from office, while commending Justice Kekere-Ekun and the Court of Appeal’s judgment acquitting Justice Onnoghen.
“I am, therefore, very happy to have read that both the judiciary, particularly the Court of Appeal and the former CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, have come to an amicable settlement, and I wholeheartedly congratulate him for passing out the ordeal he was subjected to by the former President, and I pray God will protect him and for him to always have the courage to fight for his right because Nigeria belongs to all of us and we are all equal citizens,” Clark said.
The Senior Special Assistant to former President Buhari, Garba Shehu, did not comment on the issue.
However, an official in the previous administration, who pleaded anonymity for lack of authorisation to speak on the issue, told one of our correspondents that the decision of the Buhari government to suspend Onoghen from office was justified under extant laws.
The official said, “The case before the Code of Conduct Tribunal against Onoghen was the non-declaration of assets, an offence against the laws of the land, the Constitution. The records are there at the Code of Conduct Bureau that Onoghen had never declared his assets, but only twice: when he was appointed as acting CJN and when he was appointed as CJN.
“That was the only time he declared his assets. Never, as a high court judge, appeal or Supreme Court Justice. And he admitted that he didn’t declare his assets. And all these bank assets that they said should be released to him, the truth is, even when he declared as CJN, he did not declare those assets. But the man, by his admission, said that he did not declare. Is that not enough to fire him?
“So, if the government of the day decides that he has not committed any offence and that they have waived it off, then they can let him off the hook. That is a political decision.”
