Onnoghen To CCT Chairman: Why I Can’t Appear Before You, …Says He Is A Biased, Tainted Arbiter

…Says he is a biased, tainted
arbiter

Suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter
Onnoghen has told the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal
(CCT), Danladi Umar that he cannot stand appear before him (Umar)
for trial because he has by his conduct and utterances,
demonstrated that he was a biased and tainted arbiter.

Onnoghen, who argued, among others, that justice is rooted in
confidence, said he has no confidence in Umar’s capacity to do
justice in his case. He accused Umar of being the sole mind behind
the ex-parte order on which President Muhammadu Buhari acted to
suspend him.

The suspended CJN, who described Umar as “a tainted arbiter” by
virtue of the charge filed against him by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), “for receiving money bribe in
the sum of N10, 000,000.00 in charge No: CR/109/18 in FCT High
Court,” argued that it was impossible for the CCT Chair to act with
a fair mind.

Onnoghen therefore asked Umar to disqualify himself in respect
of the non-assets declaration charge pending against him (Onnoghen)
before the CCT.

The suspended CJN made this argument in a motion filed for him
on Monday by a team of lawyers led by Chris Uche
(SAN).  The content of the motion seems a direct response
to the directive given, on February 4 this year, by the CCT
Chairman, to the effect that Onnoghen must attend the next
proceedings at the CCT for him to be arraigned on the charge
pending against him.

The motion on notice particularly, prayed the tribunal for an
order directing “the honourable Chairman of the tribunal,
Honourable Danladi Umar to disqualify/recuse himself from further
participating in the adjudication of this case on the ground of
real likelihood of bias.”

The grounds on which the prayer is made, include that “the
Chairman has constructively convicted the defendant (The Honourable
Chief Justice of Nigeria) sought to be arraigned before him without
either hearing from him or his being formally arraigned before
him.

“The Chairman authored and signed an ex parte order directing an
un-convicted man to step aside on account of a charge not yet
before him as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, which is in itself a
conviction prior to arraignment and plea/trial.

“The Chairman had directed the Executive arm of government,
contrary to the express provision of the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria and without reference to the National
Judicial Council, the replacement of the office and role of the
Chief Justice of Nigeria by his own nominee and appointee in the
person of Hon Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad JSC.

“The Chairman, on 23th January, 2019, entertained a motion
ex-parte not moved by any known prosecutor, bearing the same title,
charge number and purported accused person/defendant, Hon justice
Waiter Samuel Onnoghen, CJN, GCON, dated
9^th January 2019, which substantially predetermined
the guilt of the defendant, without an arraignment.

“Consequent upon the above, the learned Chairman (Hon. Danladi
Umar), who purportedly moved, made and signed the order, has put
himself in the position of prosecutor, judge and jury to the clear
prejudice and bias against the defendant.

“The learned Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (Hon.
Danladl Umar) is a tainted arbiter by reason of a criminal charge
at the Instance of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
for receiving money bribe in the sum of N10, 000,000.00 in Charge
No: CR/109/18 in FCT High Court by an organ under the supervision
of the office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation,
incidentally the prosecutor and complainant in this matter.

“With such sword of Damocles hanging over him, and himself not
just recusing himself from a quasi-judicial function, is himself
not likely to be a fair arbiter, but instead more likely to trade
in the charges against him in quasi plea bargaining in the charge
against him and enter summary conviction in this proceedings to
please the prosecutor.

“Various comments and decisions/orders made by the Honourable
Chairman of the tribunal clearly demonstrate beyond doubt that the
Chairman of the tribunal had inclination or predisposition to
decide the case in a certain pre-arranged manner without regard to
any law or rules of procedure.

“In the course of the proceedings of this case, the honourable
Chairman of the tribunal showed acts of partisanship by making
decisions/orders and expressing opinions antagonistic to the
applicant and on the other hand demonstrated favourable
dispositions towards the respondent.

“The partiality of the honourable Chairman of the tribunal is
not in doubt as there are manifest cases of real likelihood of bias
on the part of the Chairman of the tribunal against the applicant
by reason inter alia of the disclosures above.

“The applicant has no confidence in the honourable Chairman of
the tribunal to do justice fairly between parties in this case. as
he is a man on a mission to please his masters.

“In spite of the fact that the attention of the tribunal was
drawn to four different orders of court, the Chairman, in ruling,
abandoned two of the orders and kept on emphasizing on the orders
from the Federal High Court and the F.C.T High Court alone
supported by Member ll.

“The tribunal has by the conduct, comments and pronouncements of
the Chairman on the 14th of January, 1019 and supported by Member
II on the 22nd January, 2019 has predetermined the motion of the
defendant, challenging its jurisdiction before even same can be
heard.

“After the rulings of  the 22nd January, 2019, the
counsel to the prosecution, again urged the honourable tribunal to
make an interim order for the defendant to step aside as the Chief
Justice of Nigeria and chairman of the National Judicial Council,
but the Chairman of the tribunal in open court stated that the
prosecutor should exercise patience, because his motion on notice
for stepping aside would be heard at the next adjourned date, which
caused all lawyers and members of the public present in court to
exclaim in bewilderment before the honourable Chairman struggled
unconvincingly to correct himself to the effect that what he meant
was for the motion challenging jurisdiction be taken first and
thereafter the motion for stepping aside.

“The honourable Chairman later rightly informed the prosecution
counsel, in open court, that he was not going to make any interim
order for the defendant to step aside, because the issue of
jurisdiction raised was fundamental and then adjourned the matter
to the 18^th January, 2019 for the hearing of
motions.

“Surprisingly, on the 23^rd of January, 2019, a
day after the proceedings of 22nd January, 2019, wherein matter was
adjourned to the 28th January, 2019, the Chairman and Member 11
purportedly issued an order ex-parte, directing the defendant to
step aside as the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the
National Judicial Council and also directed the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria to swear-in the most senior Justice of
the Supreme Court as the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of
the National Judicial Council.

“The Chairman and Member II of this tribunal gave the
prosecution/complainant/respondent, through the back door, what
they seek by their notion on notice dated 10th January,
2019. Following the said order ex-parte, which was never
served on the applicant or the National Judicial Council, the
President purportedly suspended the Defendant/Applicant from office
on the 25th of January, 2019 and appointed Justice Ibrahim Tanko
Muhammad as the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the
National Judicial Council.

“There is a clear case of bias against the Defendant/Applicant
from the facts narrated above. The defendant/applicant has
become totally apprehensive of the proceedings of the honourable
tribunal and cannot continue in the proceedings because it has
become palpable that he cannot get justice from the conduct and
disposition of the Chairman and Member II.

“The honourable tribunal, especially the Chairman, has
constituted himself as the prosecutor and accuser of the
defendant/applicant and cannot in good and clear
conscience continue to be part of the proceedings and trial of
the applicant.

“It is most honourable for the honourable Chairman and Member II
to recuse and disqualify themselves from the proceedings so that a
person of firm and unbiased disposition can be appointed to preside
over the proceedings of this matter.

“The Chairman has constructively convicted the defendant (the
Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria), sought to be arraigned before
him, without either hearing from him or his being formally
arraigned before him.”

2019 Elections: Still on Media-Citizen Observers
Colloboration – Moshood Isah

The 2019 general election is less than a fortnight away with
election stakeholders getting set for another all-important general
election in Nigeria. There have been questions on the rise
concerning the accuracy of election results: “Will it reflect the
voting reality or if it will be altered?” In recent times, citizen
observers have played a crucial role in the electoral process
especially in the area of observation, providing accurate data and
verifying accuracy of elections result. The days of anecdotal
reporting of election should go away with the previous elections,
as data-driven reportage is consistently proving to be the best way
to analyze quality of elections. While journalists cannot be at all
polling units at the same time, it has become pertinent to leverage
on citizen observer information to galvanise reports for quality
control.

Although, traditional election observers may also not have the
wherewithal to be at all polling units at the same time, this may
leave the audience with anecdotal report. In this vein, a
systematic election observation methodology which provides accurate
and real time information on the election process remains the best
possible way to access quality of elections and remain the only
independent way to verify the accuracy of the elections result.

During a roundtable with journalists and editors on the 2019
General elections and the deployment of Parallel Vote Tabulation
organized by YIAGA AFRICA through a project called Watching The
Vote, the Executive Director, Samson Itodo revealed the vital role
of citizens and the media in the course of the election. He
reiterated that while citizen observers play a massive role in
providing election data, journalists should leverage on credible
election data rather than anecdotal reportage of the election.

The good news however is that, organisations like YIAGA ARICA
through its Watching The Vote (WTV) project, have consistently
deployed a systematic methodology called the Parallel Vote
Tabulation (PVT) to observe elections in recent times. The PVT is a
proven Election Day observation methodology that allows
non-partisan citizen observers to observe and provide accurate
information on the Election Day process using Information
Technology and Statistics thereby verifying the accuracy of
elections results released by the electoral commission.

The PVT which originated from the Philippines by a group called
the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) was
successfully used to oust the then President, who had initially
manipulated elections outcome. During the Presidential elections in
1986, NAMFREL mobilized 500,000 volunteers nationwide to observe
the process. The then President, Ferdinand Marcos declared himself
the winner of the election; the NAMFREL count, however, showed
otherwise. This led to People Power revolt which ultimately ousted
Marcos.

A similar scenario happened in Zambia during the 1992
Presidential elections where citizen observers prevented election
malpractice using the PVT. While PVT has also been used in Nigeria
during general elections and off-circle elections from 2011,
Nigerian media may not have maximized available data from citizen
observers to assess quality of elections. But the 2019 elections is
another window of opportunity for the media to utilize the data
output provided by independent and non-partisan citizens observers
nationwide to verify and corroborate with facts of the elections
for their news reports. For instance, the PVT provides information
such as the time in which voting commenced at polling units and the
functionality of the card reader, and eventually an estimate of
elections results.

There has also been a debate surrounding the usage of smart card
readers and incident forms, however citizen observers using the PVT
methodology can provide accurate data on the percentage of polling
units that made use of smart readers for accreditation and
authentication of voters throughout the election period. This will
then give an insight on the possibility of multiple voting, voting
by proxy or election malpractice.

Back to the question of whether the election result will reflect
the voting reality or it will be altered. Only the citizen
observers using the Parallel Vote Tabulation observation
methodology can verify the accuracy of the results or expose any
form of malpractice in the process. Thus, there is need to sound a
note of warning to any individuals or any group who may be planning
to manipulate the 2019 general elections, because the citizen
observers will expose it.

Finally, Nigerians are making a clarion call to journalists to
leverage on credible elections data in a bid to give an accurate
analysis of the elections. In this vein, electoral stakeholders can
assess quality of elections and work on recommendations to better
improve the process.

Moshood Isah
Media Officer | YIAGA AFRICA