TheCable

Coalition for Change, a civil society group, has called on Walter Onnoghen, the chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), to resign in light of the allegations of false declaration of assets.

The federal government filed a six-count charge against Onnoghen at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) based on a petition submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

Sabo Odeh, president of the group, said Onnoghen has to save the judiciary the shame and do the needful by resigning.

“Nigerians have again been subjected to a spectacle of shame with the ongoing but needless controversy over the arraignment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal over his alleged failure to properly declare his assets and operating foreign domiciliary bank accounts,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“We call the controversy a shame because it has exposed the sham in the constant agitation for a paradigm shift that some of our compatriots put up for show.

“We have noted that the matter, which is glaringly an open and close case, since flagrant violation of the Constitution and legislation emanating from it have been established against Justice Onnoghen. But in an atmosphere that has been hijacked by a feral opposition it is not surprising that the case has been turned on its head and given all manners of colouration, all with the sole aim of allowing another person that has abused his position of trust to escape repercussions.

“In the past few days, we have seen the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) issuing statements and threats. The party has issued several threats and continued to reiterate them such that with the benefit of hindsight there is now substance to the claims previously made by some groups and persons that the PDP, certain of a resounding trouncing and defeat at the polls, has compromised the judiciary in order to fraudulently take over the government of the country through frivolous court ruling, particularly the position of the President.

“The only honourable thing Justice Onnoghen has done in the entire saga was to set the record straight by disproving the fake news deployed by one Femi Fani-Kayode and one Yinka Odumakin to the effect that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has surrounded his residence. The fact that the Chief Justice disprove the fake news is an indication that he could have also disowned the support from the Niger Delta militants and also disregard the directive from the south-south governors if he had wished to. We see him allowing this controversy to fester because he views it as an escape route from facing the consequences for his breach of the law.”