By Henry Umoru

Elder statesman and leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, has commended the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) following the Court of Appeal’s acquittal of former CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, on charges of false asset declaration.

In an open letter dated November 24th, 2024 to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, which is the second letter to her since her appointment, Clark said that with her coming as the head of the Apex court in the country, it is a new dawn in the Judiciary.

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In the letter that was made available to Journalists in Abuja on Sunday, the Elder statesman while giving an insight into the reason for his sack, said that if Justice Onnoghen was to remain as the CJN, what he described as the mess and mischievous things they wanted to carryout during the Presidential election in 2019, the former CJN would not have accept it, adding, “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.”

Recall that early this month, about six years after he was convicted, a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Mohammed Bello, acquitted the ex-CJN following a settlement agreement the federal government entered with him.

It will also be recalled that former President Muhammadu Buhari had on January 25, 2019, about 29 days before the presidential election, suspended Onnoghen from office as the CJN and swore in the next most senior jurist of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Muhammad, to take over the leadership of the judiciary.

Onnoghen’s suspension came barely eight hours after he announced his decision to inaugurate judges who would preside over election petition tribunals. He was later convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, on a six-count corruption charge that was preferred against him by the Federal Government. It was alleged that he made a false declaration to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The letter is titled, “A New Dawn in the Judiciary “

Clark said, “It is a heart-filled with joy I write to congratulate you again on your well-deserved appointment as the Chief Justice of Nigeria. This no doubt, is as a result of your total commitment, dedication and loyalty to your country. I pray the Almighty God to continue to guide, protect, and give you the courage, wisdom and determination to carry out your new assignment in order to justify the confidence reposed in you by Mr. President and the people of Nigeria. However, I hope my letter will not come to the Hon. Chief Justice as a surprise but if it does, I respectfully apologize for any embarrassment or inconveniences it may cause you.

“Again, I wish to respectfully introduce myself to your Lordship. I am Chief (Dr.) Edwin Kiagbodo Clark OFR, CON and 97 years old. I have been a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) since 1965 with over 60 years’ post-call.

“I have today decided to extol the Chief Justice of Nigeria for resolving into finality the humiliation meted to the brilliant former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen. The almighty God will definitely reward you when the day come at any time.
This is my second open letter I am addressing to you, our new Chief Justice of Nigeria and praising you for your appointment as CJN, after you took over from your predecessor in office, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola who was taking us deep into unknown destination.

“I remember being involved in Kano State politics, where I saw you, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun as one of the judges in the Court of Appeal, Kano State. You were one of those judges who did everything to clear corruption from the body politiy of Kano State at a time when the newly elected Governor of Kano State, Sen Ibrahim Shekarau was in office. In my open letter to the former Governor of Kano State, Sen Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, I referred to your name as one of the judges in the Court of Appeal fighting corruption without fear or favour and this was what you said, “it is trite that the exercise of discretion must be done judiciary and judiciously taking into account all the circumstances of the particular case and balancing the interest of all the parties in other to determine whether it is just and equitable to grant the order sought”.

“The next time I heard of you was when you were unanimously nominated by the National Judicial Commission (NJC) without any hesitation as the new CJN. Nigeria hailed the sigh of relief. Many Nigerians since then have congratulated you for starting the serious and genuine clean-up of the Nigerian Judiciary including all its associates because you believe it has been your home for years. You must clean it up and Nigerians are behind you and they are praying for you everyday because without an efficient and incorruptible judiciary, Nigeria will end up as a failed country.

“As for the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen in his own case, ‘a Daniel has come to judgement’. 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. The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Russian President Vladimir Putin are today being looked for, for trial but they are on the run. 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.”

The Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, Forum, PANDEF further said,”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. While the other four (4) Justices led by the CJN and strongly supported by Justice Niki Tobi voted in favor of President Jonathan.

“President Buhari in compensating the justices whose judgement favored him in 2011, he sent one of the Supreme Court justices on retirement to London as the High Commissioner of Nigeria in London, a high-profile assignment. The second Justice who got similar appointment was my good friend when we were together in the British council hostel called Hans Crescent, Knight Bridge, London in 1961. Many Nigerians were shocked that a man of such an age and ill health was allowed for personal aggrandizement. The story was different in the case of the third Supreme Court Justice, who voted for President Buhari; he 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 carryout during the Presidential election in 2019, Justice Onnoghen will 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 of 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 cost for a second term. It is a shame which Nigeria has just recovered from.
“Is it not disgraceful and unpatriotic to invite such person to council of state meetings, public functions or any government functions, pretending these were good Head of State and President of Nigeria? No.”

The Leader of Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF continued thus, “I was much concerned about the injustice that was being executed by President Buhari with impunity. To humiliate a whole Chief Justice of Nigeria, another tier of the government, must be condemned and infact brought to trial in the law court for this unpatriotic act.

“President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, 25th January, 2019 suspended Justice Walter Onnoghen, the erstwhile Chief Justice of Nigeria and swore in an Acting CJN, Mr. Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed without the involvement of the NJC. Justice Tanko Muhammed immediately nominated and screened several Judges to the High Court as proposed members of the Judicial Tribunals to try all the cases after the Presidential election in 2019. Unfortunately, the National Judicial Commission did not challenge the action of Mr. President, while Justice Walter Onnoghen was shamefully humiliated out of the service. Many of us in the legal profession did not believe that this matter had judiciously ended because the 1999 constitution made it very clear that it is the joint approval of the NJC, the President and the Senate that can appoint and suspend the Chief Justice of Nigeria, and hence, for record purpose, I chose to make my remarks in my autobiography, ‘BRUTALLY FRANK’ in chapter 22 page 523.

“The President, during the swearing-in of the acting CJN, said he was served an order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal calling for the suspension of Onnoghen from office pending the final determination of his false assets declaration case before the tribunal.
He had the guts and temerity to conclude his formal address to Nigerians by saying, “Fellow Nigerians, we can only stand a chance to win the fight against corruption, and position our dear nation for accelerated development when we stand together to contend against it”.
The Code of Conduct Tribunal convicted Justice Walter Onnoghen of charges of breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers and ordered his removal from office as the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
The three-man tribunal led by Danladi Umar also ordered Onnoghen’s removal as the Chairman of both the National Judicial Council and the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

It banned him from holding any public office for a period of 10 years.

“Convicting the erstwhile CJN on all the six counts, the tribunal chairman, who read the judgment, said, “Having regard to section 23(2) of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and Bureau Act, the defendant has clearly contravened the Code of Conduct for Public Officers and he is hereby convicted.”

“I was so disturbed, I became restless to the extent that I mobilized youths to demonstrate at the court and I remembered amongst the lawyers that came to my house was Hon Ikenga Ugochinyere, then a young lawyer but the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) shamefully was nowhere to be found. The Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) who form the inner Bar behaved worse than the outer Bar. The President of the Nigerian Bar Association Mr Paul Usoro SAN, an indigene of Akwa Ibom State, a state that was part of Cross River State – he and the then CJN were members of the Bar in Cross River State but unfortunately, he hasn’t got the guts and courage to lead a vibrant Bar Association. I called him and confronted him for not speaking up. I asked him that ‘is it because he was facing a criminal charge at the High Court in Uyo that he sacrificed the overall interest of the NBA and Nigerians?

“A coalition of civil society groups described the trial and conviction of Onnoghen as an assault on the judiciary by the executive. The groups comprising the Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution, Concerned Nigerians, Free Nigeria Movement and Mad Connect, said in a statement on Thursday, 18th April, 2019 that the judiciary had never been assaulted as it was under the Buhari administration.

“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.
Thank you and God bless.”