1st February, 2019
ONNOGHENGATE: PRESIDENCY
NEEDS SOLOMONIC WISDOM
A 12-man team of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has
reportedly met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo following the suspension of
the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen. The meeting allegedly
took place early on Monday, 28th January, 2019 and the subject-matter was how
to get a soft landing for the suspended CJN.
Among
the options suggested by the team were the following:
1. CJN to resign or retire without coercion;
2. Govt to withdraw all charges against Onnoghen.
3. No molestation of CJN under any guise;
4. Acting CJN should quit.
5. NBA team to prevail on relatives, friends to
persuade Justice Onnoghen to resign.
6. Consensus on the need to clean up the
Judiciary (long term measure).
Meanwhile the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), an Islamic human
rights organization, has accepted option 6 in its entirety. The group also
agreed with option 1 with an amendment. It rejected options 2 and 4; described
option 3 as superfluous, suggestive and ill-motivated. The group regards option
5 as ridiculous, laughable and unsavoury.
The
statement which was issued on Friday evening 1st February, 2019 was signed by
the founder and director of the organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
MURIC said, “We accept option number 1 with an
amendment. We have always said that the suspended CJN must resign. Retirement
is not on the table. But the idea of ‘without coercion’ is outrageous. Who has
been coercing the suspended CJN? Who has this administration coerced before? It
is obvious that the NBA team came with a mindset and that is not good enough in
dialogue. Why should they start with name-calling? Who are they trying to label
as a tyrant? That option should be reviewed. Onnoghen should resign not only in
the interest of the nation but also to save the judiciary from this monumental
embarrassment.
“Option 2 is unacceptable. Why should government withdraw all
charges? Now we can see how unnecessary plea-bargaining begins. We usually
forget that every celebrated matter like this one, particularly those involving
public figures and government officials are always placed first in the court of
public opinion. Lawyers may bring technicalities but Nigerians are not
fools.
“The
man in the street is going to ask for the rationale for dropping charges. The
number of criminals will increase because people are angry that a whole CJN
allegedly got 55 houses in Abuja city alone with more than N1.1 billion cash in
the kitty by robbing with the pen. So why shouldn’t armed robbers rob with the
gun? This suggestion brings the contradictions in our society more clearly and
rudely to the forefront. It should not be tried because it will create another
bad precedent. This is a case in which government has to be firm. How do we
create a deterrent for others? We have no doubt that other judges who have the
noun ‘thief’ and the verb ‘to steal’ will expect plea bargain championed by the
NBA in future?
Option 3 is superfluous, malicious, suggestive
and ill-motivated. NBA is asking government not to molest the CJN. It is also
implied in option 1. What exactly does NBA mean by molestation? Does the NBA
think Nigerians will continue to respect this administration if the Federal
Government (FG) announces a national award for the suspended CJN just as some
people did in the past? What we know of this regime is that it upholds human
dignity, freedom of the press, free speech and the rule of law. What else does
NBA want for the suspended billionaire CJN?
“Option 4 is a satanic option. It offends the principle of
natural justice. Why should the new acting CJN resign? What offence has he
committed?Is it a crime to be a Northerner? NBA should eschew ethnic jingoism.
We are not unaware of hate speeches in video clips targeted at the new acting
CJN but we do not expect NBA to buy into tribal particularism. We believe in a
united Nigeria. We respect and love lawyers but we love Nigeria more. We do not
expect less from our lawyers.
“NBA’s satanic option 4 is reminiscent of the
story of the two women who brought their case to Prophet Daud (peace be upon
him). A wolf had taken one of the children away and there was a dispute
concerning whose child was still alive. Prophet Daud declared the older woman
as the owner but Prophet Sulayman (peace be upon him) who was the son of Daud
and whom Allah gave more wisdom than his father reviewed the judgement.
“He said, ‘Bring me a knife so as
to cut the child into two pieces and distribute it between them’. Although the
older lady agreed, the younger lady said, `May Allah be merciful to you. Don’t
do that, give the child to her, it is hers. Sulayman knew instantly that the
younger lady who did not want the child to die was the true owner. So he gave
the child to her (Qur’an 38:30 – 34; Sahih Bukhari 1:487;I
Kings 3:16 – 28).
“So who deserves the post of CJN between
Justice Onnoghen and Justice Muhammed Tanko? Whose child was carried away by
the wolf, Onnoghen or Tanko? NBA wants the child cut in two halves! NBA has surprised
us with this strange suggestion. Who has a case to answer? Who abused his
office? Who is the billionaire CJN? How many days has Tanko spent in office as
acting CJN? Is it possible for eminent members of the NBA to also join the camp
of haters and wailers? Why are we like this in this country? Who cursed
Nigeria?
“We are confounded by option 5. NBA is pledging to
‘prevail’ on relatives, friends will ‘persuade’ Justice Onnoghen to resign. We
reject this option. It is infantile, pedestrian and preposterous. NBA is
spoon-feeding Onnoghen. What concerns the Nigerian public with ‘relatives’ and
‘friends’ in this matter? So NBA wants a whole Nigeria with 200 million people
to start prostrating for a single person? Must we prostrate for a cow because
we want to eat beef? Is that it? Should it be so? No, it had better not be.
Nigeria is bigger than the suspended CJN. How can such a peripheral issue
supplant the tangential?
“We are not surprised though. We are not surprised because
NBA has decided long ago that it would ignore the substance and treat the
symptom. As far as NBA is concerned, Justice Onnoghen is a saint. He must be
idolized. MURIC rejects this stance. It is an attempt to turn Onnoghengate to a comedy. That
suggestion should be sent to Nollywood or reserved for the senator who spent 19
hours on treetop. We are being serious here please.
“Option number 6 concerning the need to clean up the judiciary
appears to us to make the most sense. Our judiciary stinks and a total
overhauling of the system is long overdue. This should be done as soon as
possible.
“We appeal to the NBA to call a spade a spade. The body of
lawyers should avoid spite and the pull-them-down syndrome. NBA appears to be
cutting its nose in order to spite its face. This seems to be what the
association is doing by trying to extenuate the offence committed by Justice
Onnoghen while demonising Justice Tanko. Is the NBA not biased? Isn’t Justice
Tanko also a member of the legal body? How should we judge an association that
treats one member as a sacred cow and pushes another onto the rail line when a
train is approaching at full speed? It is the most odious and insidious
segregation. NBA needs to reassess itself.
“If Nigerians agree that our judiciary needs
cleaning up, the man to do it is President Muhammadu Buhari. He has the
necessary qualities for the task. The boldness, the determination, the ascetic
mien and the incorruptibility are the effective weapons needed for the job and
he already possesses them. But we are already in the twilight of his first term
in office. Nigerians will definitely need him for a second term particularly to
clean the Augean stable.
“As we rise from this intervention, MURIC charges the Federal
Government to immediately set in motion the machinery for overhauling the
Nigerian judiciary. It is a miscarriage of justice to ask the newly appointed
acting CJN to resign. He should continue his work. On the contrary, it is the
suspended CJN who should resign honourably now. The Presidency should apply
Solomonic wisdom to Onnoghengate by sparing the ‘innocent child’”.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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