Some Nigerians now appear to be finding it difficult to keep pace with happenings in the polity in the past few weeks.
They wake up almost every day to have something new to ponder over and talk about.
The latest of these saga was the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen’s case, which has taken many dimensions in the past few weeks.
Among the issues against him was the tracing to his personal bank accounts of suspicious transactions running into millions of dollars and other foreign currencies.
The bank accounts were said to be either undeclared or improperly declared as required by law.
Onnoghen, who admitted that he made mistakes and forgot to disclose the accounts, refused to immediately appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
While many Nigerians have declared that his excuse was not tenable in law, others felt the discoveries few weeks to the general elections are politically motivated.
Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and other lawyers, who should know more about interpretation of the laws of the land, were also sharply divided over the legality of Onnoghen to appear before the CCT.
To ensure Onnoghen appear before the CCT and clear his name, the Presidency on Friday 25th of January, 2019 suspended him from office.
Also to ensure no vacuum, President Muhammadu Buhari immediate swore in Ibrahim Tanko Mohammad as acting CJN the same day.
This again caused more division, especially among SANs and lawyers in the country, who spoke for or against legality of the action of the President.
In a twist of events, the National Judicial Council (NJC) in an emergency meeting last Tuesday directed Onnoghen and Muhammad to respond to the petitions against them within seven days.
The Council at the meeting had elected former President of the Court of Appeal, Umaru Abdullahi, as Interim Chairman to preside over the meeting.
The Court of Appeal, in its ruling on Onnoghen last week, okayed his trial by the CCT.
With events fastly unfolding, not only stakeholders within the country, but outside the country have linked the various issues been thrown up to the forthcoming general elections.
The United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) have also issued coordinated statements on Onnoghen’s suspension, criticising the decision by the Federal Government.
“The EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) is very concerned about the process and timing of the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Honourable Justice Walter Onnoghen, on 25 January.
“With 20 days until the presidential and National Assembly elections, political parties, candidates and voters must be able to have confidence in the impartiality and independence of the judicial system.
“The decision to suspend the Chief Justice has led to many Nigerians, including lawyers and civil society observer groups, to question whether due process was followed. The timing, just before the swearing in of justices for Electoral Tribunals and the hearing of election-related cases, has also raised concerns about the opportunity for electoral justice.
“The EU EOM calls on all parties to follow the legal processes provided for in the Constitution and to respond calmly to any concerns they may have,” it stated.
Many Nigerians have also claimed that the Onnoghen issue has not been allowed to die down purely because of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s moves to ensure a transparent and corrupt-free Nigeria.
Reacting to the coordinated statements, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, said “We also note that friends, when not properly informed or acting in haste, can indeed make serious mistakes even with the best of intentions. Such is the case here.
“The statements by the three seem more driven by unfounded assumptions and to be honest, a certain condescension to this African democracy. This is unfortunate. But this gives us an opportunity to clarify some points in the hope that these three friends reach a deeper understanding of the situation.
“The statements by the US, UK and EU speak of their respect for constitutional practice and fair elections. However, the positions they stake tend to contravene rather than strengthen these laudable objectives.
“CJN Onnoghen’s situation is one of his own making and, to a large degree, his own choosing.
“The CJN was brought before the CCT because of a serious breach of law regarding his assets declaration. This is not a mere technicality like innocently placing a document in a wrong file or mistakenly placing yesterday’s date on a document.
“All credible evidence indicates the CJN owned and operated several secret bank accounts. Unexplained large sums of money, exceeding several million dollars have passed through these accounts. Several thousand dollars are currently parked in the accounts. Multiple deposits of equal sums of money were deposited in some of those accounts during the same day. Such rapid and equal deposits are indicative of a person attempting to evade banking reporting laws and regulations.
“Given the amount of money involved and the CJN’s inability to explain the source of the funds, the most plausible explanation at this point is also the most unfortunate explanation. No one did this to CJN Onnoghen. He and he alone is to blame for this turn of events.
“Because of this he has been thoroughly discredited. It is untenable that a person in such compromised circumstances would be allowed to preside over the entire judicial system of a great nation. That would travesty the nation and what it stands for.
“Had the situation been reversed and the US, UK or any EU member government found that its chief judicial official is the recipient of large sums of money of questionable origin and Nigeria suggested that you retain the person in that position, you would question Nigeria’s bona fides.
“You also would swiftly move to suspend the official pending final determination of the causes against him. Not one of your nations would allow a person enmeshed in legal uncertainty to preside over your legal systems until the cloud has been cleared from him. That would incentivize corruption and assault the rule of law.
“Last, the three make a curious direct linkage between the CJN suspension and the elections. However, in Nigerian law there is no such linkage. The CJN does not run the election. Nor is he the first arbiter of any electoral complaints. He and the Supreme Court will only get involved as the final arbiter at the end of the appellate process,” he said.
Adding his voice to the issue last week Monday, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole said “But Nigeria is not a colony. We will not accept any foreign interference in the internal affairs of Nigeria.
“When they dismiss judges in Europe…judges have been dismissed in the United States when they are found guilty of corruption and the Western world cannot on the one hand, when it suits them, describe Nigeria as fantastically corrupt and when a corrupt judicial officer is being charged, people want to interfere.
“What anybody can insist on is, is anybody being framed? Is the suspended CJN guilty of the allegations made against him? Or is it something being cooked out from nowhere? Now, if a Chief Justice of the Federation admits that he has breached the law, if a Chief Justice of the Federation admits that he has several foreign domiciliary accounts, even though he also admits that by nature of his office, he is not s trader, what is he doing with accounts in British pounds, US dollars and in Euros and to the extent of forgetting that he has those accounts?
“If he has such memory failure about the size of his number of accounts as to fail to declare them, you and I know that even ignorance is not an excuse in law. So, why are we being hypocritical?
“And at a certain level of responsibility, it’s not even about legal technicalities. It’s about the moral weight, the moral burden you carry. So, nobody should make us feel as though we are at the mercy of any other country. The future of Nigeria is in the hands of Nigerians and our laws are clear. Our laws are meant to be obeyed,” he said.
While the drama on the Onnoghen’s case is still unfolding, some Nigerians last Wednesday welcomed the moves by the Federal Government to press charges against Babachir Lawal and the former Head of the National Intelligent Agency (NIA), Ayo Oke.
Even though some Nigerians believed that the latest move was long overdue, others, who commended it, believed that it has shown that the government was not selectiveness in its anti-corruption campaign.
Nigeria would really be the best for it if the anti-graft battle treats everyone alike and have no special treatment for any member of the kitchen cabinet or any top government official.