Author of Petition Against Onneghen Accuses Acting CJN, NJC of Shielding Corrupt Judges

The Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI), the group that was involved in the case against the former Chief Justice of Nigeria ,(CJN), Justice Walter Onneghen has alleged that the National Judicial Council under the headship of the acting Chief Judge of Nigeria, Mohammed, is providing soft landing for Judges facing allegations of corruption.

ARDIS was the architect of the highly controversial corruption petition which saw  Onneghen dragged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in a case of asset declaration violation.

The group said that despite the gravity of the case against Justice Onneghen, the NJC only recommended retirement to President Muhammadu Buhari as his punishment.

It said but for the insistence of the president that the law must take its course, the embattled former CJN would have escaped without a good measure of punishment.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of ARDI, Dennis Aghanya said the group had observed a very worrisome trend in the manner that the NJC usually treats corruption petition against serving judges in the country.

According to him, it appears that the NJC is only out to sweep corruption cases against judges under the carpet or in the alternative use its position to grant soft landing for the affected Judges.

ARDI said it decided to petition the NJC in its handling of the Kogi State House of Assembly recommendations, which urged the state Chief Judge, Justice Nasiru Ajanah to step down for proper investigation on his indictment for alleged misconduct.

He said the bone of contention in the group's petition against the NJC was its dissatisfaction over the manner the NJC is handling the petition submitted to it by the Kogi State governor on the sack of the State Chief Judge, Justice Nasiru Ajanah, for alleged gross misconduct.

Aghanya said: "While our petition to the NJC is not a pronouncement of guilt against his Lordship, Justice Ajanah, we frown at the pattern the NJC seem to be adopting in cases brought before it against serving judges".

He said that the NJC had gone to Kogi state to broker peace in the face off between the Kogi State Judicial workers and the executive arm of government, but has failed to address the key issue of corruption indictment  made against the Judge by the state Auditor General's office.

Aghanya said that ARDI is seeking to achieve is to draw the attention of NJC to the need to consider the recommendation of the Kogi state House Assembly and give its verdict on the matter.

"In its efforts to find a lasting peace in the face off between the Kogi State Judicial workers and the executive arm of government, which is a considered welcomed step, the NJC left unaddressed the substance of the indictment against the State Chief Judge to merely address the administrative dispute, thereby giving the embattled Chief Judge a soft landing.

Aghanya said the group is elated over the President's decision not to succumb to such NJC's  recommendation on Justice Onnoghen but to allow justice is better left to run its full course. 

"We consider this pattern of soft landing as dangerous precedence by the NJC. It should learn to call a spade a spade so that justice can actually be seen to be dispensed," he said.