President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed why he sacked the retired Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, saying that he dealt with him for having in his possession undeclared foreign and local currencies.
Nigerian Tribune reports that Buhari made the disclosure on Tuesday, June 25, while receiving some Yoruba leaders led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at the presidential Villa, Abuja.
It was gathered that the president said he had to do what he did to the former CJN even though he was reluctant.
He said: “But anybody who cannot account for what he has and for refusing to declare it, we will have to do something about it. I will tell you, that was why I had to deal though, reluctantly with the former Chief Justice because there were millions of dollars, euros not to talk of naira which were not declared.
“I wonder what sort of conscience some of us have. How can you seat and preside over and lock people up for years and even sentence some to death and yet you are not doing what the constitution said you should do by occupying that vital institution.
“So, I stopped getting worried so much, sorry to admit it, when I found out that I could play hoop, step and jump. What I mean is that if it is America, they will do it this way. If it were in Europe, they will do this way but if you go there after 250 to 400 years, how old are we? So I realize that I don’t want to go back to into detention again.”
Buhari, who recalled how as a military leader, he clamped suspected looters into detention until they proved themselves innocent, said that these days, suspects deny their property until they are shown their bank accounts. He maintained that he had decided that property seized from suspects would be sold and the money kept in the treasury to prevent future administrations from returning them to their owners.
Buhari added: “Now, what I do is when a person cannot justify what he has or fails to declare as the constitution specifies, some of them swear to Almighty God that their property doesn’t belong to them until we show them their bank accounts and their companies then we have some peace.
“So, we are recovering as much as we can under the system and this time around I said the properties will be sold and the money put in the treasury.
“The last time they were giving back their properties but this time around whoever comes after me no matter how generous he is, he cannot take money from the treasury give it to individuals. It will be impossible.”
The president also recalled that his campaign promises and the effort his administration had made to meet them with success. Buhari thanked the group for the visit. Speaking on behalf of the group, Chief Olabiyi Durojaiye, told the president his group helped to elect him into office. He added that they were proud of their contributions to his victory.
He said the group made some requests of the president on security, education, youth employment, federalism, power supply and agriculture.
Speaking on the security, Durojaiye said: “The huge cost not-withstanding, it may be considered worthwhile to take a bold step in combating crime and improving on security by improving on the apparent shortage of the manpower in the Nigeria Police Force and by extending control of the Police from the state to local government level.”
Recall that President Buhari had suspended Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria in January and replaced him with Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed. Buhari said he removed Onnoghen based on an order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal dated January 23, 2019.
After a long battle at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and appeal court, Onnoghen voluntarily resigned as CJN and turned in his resignation letter to President Buhari, a day after the National Judicial Council (NJC) recommended his compulsory retirement for misconduct.
(Nigerian Tribune)
