Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen will be appearing before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for failing to fully declare his asset upon assumption of office as Chief Justice.
According to a statement released by Ibraheem Al-Hassan, head of press and public relations unit of the tribunal, CJN Onnoghen will be arraigned following a petition filed by Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to the CCT chairman on Friday.
The statement reads, “However, service of sumoms has been effected to the defendant, the three man panel led by Justice Danladi Y. Umar, will commence the trial on Monday, 14th January, 2019 at its courtroom, situated at the headquarter, along Jabi Daki biyu, Saloman Lar way, Abuja, at about 10:00am.
“The application was filed yesterday by the operatives of CCB, dated 11st January, 2019 and signed by Musa Ibrahim Usman (Esq) and Fatima Danjuma Ali (Esq), containing 6 count charges all bothers on non declaration of asset.”
Onnoghen will be facing a six-count charge which includes “failure to declare and submit a written declaration of all your assets and liabilities within the prescribed period of three (3) months after being sworn in as the justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on the 8th day of June 2005 and you hereby contravened the provisions of section 15(1) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act Cap c15 LFN 2004 and punishable under section 23(2) a, b and c of the same Act”.
In a petition to CCB by a civil society group, Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI), Onnoghen was said to have refused to declare a domiciliary foreign accounts with deposits running into thousands of dollars.
“The accounts made 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”.
Onnoghen was alleged to have made five different cash deposits of $10,000 each on March 8, 2011, into Standard Chartered Bank Account 1062650; two separate cash deposits of $5000 each followed by four cash deposits of $10,000 each on June 7, 2011; another set of five separate cash deposits of $10,000 each on June 27, 2011, and four more cash deposits of $10,000 each the following day.