NJC begins hearing on petitions against Onnoghen, acting CJN | Nairalaw

An investigative panel of the National Judicial Council will
this week begin hearing on the petitions of alleged misconduct
written against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice
Walter Onnoghen; and the Acting CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad, The
PUNCH reports.

Our correspondent learnt the five-man panel set up by the NJC to
investigate the petitions against the top judicial officers would
conduct a hearing on Muhammad’s case on Tuesday.

It was also learnt that the panel had its first sitting on
Onnoghen’s case on February 6 and adjourned till Wednesday.

The NJC had at its February 13, 2019 meeting reviewed the
pre-assessment report on the petitions written against the two men
and considered the complaints worthy of being investigated.

The council then set up a five-man panel led by a retired
Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice S.A Akande, to investigate
the petitions and issued queries to the judicial officers.

One of the petitions was reportedly written by a civil society
group, the Anti-Corruption and Research-Based Data Initiative, and
its Executive Director, Mr Dennis Aghanya.

The allegations in the petition sent to the NJC were said to be
the same as the one sent to the Code of Conduct Bureau, made up of
six counts, accusing the suspended CJN of failure to declare some
bank accounts with huge funds in foreign currencies as part of his
assets.

The other petition sent to the NJC was said to be by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission accusing Onnoghen of
having suspicious lodgements of huge funds in his bank
accounts.

The petition sent to the NJC against Muhammad was reportedly
authored by a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr
Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), who requested that Muhammad be sanctioned for
submitting himself to President Muhammadu Buhari to be sworn in as
acting CJN without any recommendation by the NJC.

Our correspondent gathered that both Onnoghen and Muhammad had
replied to the queries issued to them.

Agbakoba, the author of the petition against Justice Muhammad,
confirmed to our correspondent on Sunday that he had received a
notice for the Tuesday hearing on the Acting CJN’s case.

“I will appear before the panel on Tuesday,” Agbakoba told our
correspondent over the telephone.

Our correspondent learnt that Mr R.A. Rabana-Lawal (SAN), who
was said to have led Onnoghen’s team to the March 6 sitting of the
NJC’s investigative panel, could not be reached on the telephone on
Sunday.