No one used us to set up Justice Onnoghen – Aghanya

Chief Dennis Emeka Aghanya is the Executive Secretary of Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI), the organization whose investigation and petition to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) led to the resignation of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen. Aghanya told Daily Trust Saturday that they were not used by […]

Chief Dennis Emeka Aghanya is the Executive Secretary of Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI), the organization whose investigation and petition to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) led to the resignation of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen. Aghanya told Daily Trust Saturday that they were not used by President Muhammadu Buhari or any government official but simply acted in good faith. Excerpt.

Daily Trust: Your organization wrote the petition that led to the resignation of the former CJN Walter Onnoghen. How did you view the whole scenario from when you started till the resignation of the CJN?

Chief Dennis Emeka Aghanya: The former CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, was not a target, like some people will always say that he was singled out. We were not used in the first place by anybody; we did not set out to investigate him, we were working on some other issues.

And if you know what investigation is as a journalist, one investigation can lead you to something else outside what you set out to achieve. So we found ourselves in the Onnoghen saga and we decided to dig further.

And when we did, we saw things we felt were not befitting of a sitting Chief Justice of the Federation because we see the judiciary as the most vital arm of government, in terms of fight against corruption. If the executive or legislative arm is corrupt, it can be handled by the judiciary. But when the judiciary is corrupt, then who dispenses justice?

And when the head of the judiciary itself is found corrupt, where do we go from there? That was actually what happened. So, we did a thorough investigation, turned in our reports, and we are happy that the CCB saw merit in our report and decided to file charges against the former CJN. Today, it is history because we are justified with his conviction in as much as he is on appeal. But at least, it shows that we did a very good job, and it was the findings of our investigation that propelled the EFCC to double its efforts.

These agencies work hard, but sometimes they are overwhelmed with other issues. However, when they saw the good work we did, they decided to consolidate on our efforts and came up with more findings, which led to the prosecution of the former CJN.

DT: Some Nigerians believe that Justice Onnoghen was just a scapegoat, while others believe he was set up, especially knowing that the upcoming elections would drag to the elections petition tribunal. They allege that the president and his party wanted to get someone sympathetic to them.

Aghanya: A year before our petition, was it not embarrassing that in the history of this country, the homes of judges were raided and some of them later convicted? It shows you the level of corruption in the judicial system.

Justice Onnoghen was not the first judge that has been prosecuted, but his case was celebrated because of his position as the man at the helm of affairs. So, I will tell you that there’s systematic corruption in the judiciary. And if we don’t get it right with the judiciary, efforts of the Executive and that of the legislature will take us nowhere. The body language of Mr. President has also encouraged us, so you will see more. And that has led us to the issue of the Kogi State Chief Judge.

DT: But what do you have against the Kogi State Chief Judge? After all, he has been exonerated by the state government and the intervention of the NJC.

Aghanya: He was not exonerated, rather the finding of the state’s Auditor General was affirmed by the State Assembly, and he was found wanting. He was indicted of some corrupt charges. The state House of Assembly affirmed it and made recommendations to the state governor to get him sacked, which the state governor accented to and in ensuring due process, did a petition to the NJC.

When we saw the matter, we went in and investigated the findings of the State Auditor General. We also discovered that the state’s Auditor General found the judiciary wanting, as the State High Court was also indicted of some corruption, as well as the Hajj Commission of the state.

The state Chief Judge, outside his own indictment, is the chief supervising officer of the judiciary, so it is a multiple issue but even at that, we did not draw conclusion. We did not say the Chief Judge is guilty.

Our petition to the NJC was the issue of delay in taking critical decision on the crisis in the state, as it was affecting governance. The NJC coming to Kogi State was to reconcile the three arms of government while ignoring the criminal aspect and the indictment of the Kogi Chief Judge.

We felt that the NJC should have addressed that issue but they didn’t even talk about it. They left the matter hanging, so the peace in Kogi State administration is a graveyard peace because the moment the State Assembly recommends something and the governor assents to it, it becomes a policy.

If the governor goes ahead to implement the decision to remove the chief judge, it will be rowdy, and that was why we said the NJC should take a position on this. If NJC had made its own findings, it would have asked him to step aside, which is a normal procedure. You step aside for justice to be dispensed, and then other agencies concerned can take it from there.

The chief judge cannot be the judge in his own case, he must face the panel to clear his name, and this should not be politicized.