Senate president, Bukola Saraki, says abuse of due process in the proposed trial of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), will send wrong signal to local and foreign investors about Nigeria’s system of litigation.
Reacting to the arraignment of the head of the nation’s Judiciary on Monday over false assets declaration, Saraki cautioned that the matter should be handled with care.
In a statement on Sunday signed by Yusuph Olaniyonu, special adviser (media and publicity) to the Senate president, he advised the Federal Government to ensure that the trial does not cause chaos in the nation’s judicial system.
“All these subjective actions politicise the anti-graft fight. They weaken national institutions. They send wrong signals. The CJN is not above the law but his trial puts the entire judicial system on trial. It sends a signal to the entire world about our judiciary.
“It has implications for the confidence of local and foreign investors about the system of adjudication over disputes in our country. Thus, the matter should be handled with care, demonstrating intense transparency and strict adherence to due process,” the Senate president, who was similarly arraigned by the Federal Government before the CCT for similar charges but was discharged and acquitted by the apex court in 2018, noted.
According to Saraki, if the government truly has genuine reason to put the incumbent Chief Justice of Nigeria on trial, it should ensure that every step in the process is transparent and the normal process as provided by the law is followed to the letter.
He said a situation where the petition that triggered the trial was submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on Wednesday January 8 and by January 10 on Friday, the Chief Justice was presented with it for his reply only for the charges to be drafted that same day and filed in the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
This taking place within three days and commencement of trial fixed for Monday, January 14, already indicates unnecessary haste and short-circuiting of the process of fair hearing.
“It is important for the government and members of the public to know that as somebody who have travelled this route before, we should refrain from any media trial and political players should avoid abusing the judicial process in order to achieve what they could not get through normal political contests.
“Everybody who is being tried should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. That is the underlining principle of our justice system.
“The proposed trial of the CJN has once again opened up the debate on the transparency and neutrality of the fight against corruption. The haste with which this trial is being pursued leaves a lot to be desired.
“From last Wednesday when the so-called petition against the CJN was initiated to the period the trial is scheduled to commence has been barely three working days, whereas there are pending cases where the individuals involved have been indicted some months ago but no prosecution is being considered,” the Senate president stated.
While noting that the anti-corruption fight has become a case of a separate rule for the people close to the executive branch and another set of rules for the rest of Nigerians, the Senate president said the fight had been compromised and politicised.
“This trial, coming just about a month to the commencement of the presidential elections, the aftermath of which the CJN and the judiciary he is leading are set to play crucial adjudicatory role, has already raised suspicion about the real motive. There are already suggestions that this plan is set to disorganise the judicial arm after constant attempts by agents of state to undermine the federal legislature.
“Therefore, the entire country and the international community will be watching closely every step in this trial because it is definitely unusual, unprecedented and will set a record in the engagement among the three arms of government recognised in our presidential system.
“This trial definitely has implications for the principle of separation of powers and concept of checks and balance embedded in our presidential system of government,” he said.
