Pendulum: Onnoghen, Adeleke and Tales of Man’s Inhumanity to Man By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, please don’t get it wrong, I’m not a Judge and
I’m not about to deliver a judgment in favour of the ‘suspended’
Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen. I lack such capacity and
jurisdiction. Besides, as the lawyers say, the matter is ‘sub
judice’ i.e. under judicial consideration and therefore not meant
for public discourse or discussion anywhere else other than the
Court. What I’m doing here is to reiterate my initial reaction to
the kangarooistic justice manner he was harassed, terrorised,
convicted in the media, ahead of trial. My sympathy for Chief
Justice Onnoghen didn’t stem out of his status as a very important
personality BUT AS A MATTER OF PERSONAL PRINCIPLE that no Nigerian,
regardless of tribe, gender, creed or social status, should suffer
unnecessary humiliation and degradation in the hands of gods with
feet of clay.

Anyone who has followed me over time would have seen the way I
defend the rights of man, whether you are my friend or not, as long
as the victim in question believes in, and follows, the rule of
Law. A good example that readily comes into mind is that of the
then Vice President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in 2010, who was
disallowed by the so-called cabal from assuming power as Acting
President, in the absence of his boss who was apparently
incapacitated in Saudi Arabia. Some of us took the risk of
protesting and demonstrating in Abuja and were confronted by some
tough anti-riot police officers. I was neither a member of PDP nor
a friend of Dr Jonathan at the time. No one waited for, or wanted,
a thank you gratification from him. We just did what needed to be
done because we believed that his was a just cause and our
constitution and democracy was being trampled upon by fleeting
soldiers of fortune.

When it was the turn of the Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola
Saraki, we raised objections to the manner he suddenly became a
“demon” just because he fell out of favour with the powers that be.
This act of vindictiveness has been the tragic pattern and trend
since the coming of this trouble-prone Republic. There were
suggestions, from those who should know better, that Dr Saraki
should resign and abdicate responsibility while proving his
innocence at the courts. No one considered the fact that this may
have been the main strategy of his enemies in the first instance.
Their usual refrain was always about “how if this was in Europe or
America, the Senate President would have voluntarily resigned. The
Nigerian situation is always a case of man’s inhumanity to man.
Whenever it happens, there are always more than enough people ever
willing to castigate, prosecute and convict the hapless victim
without trial, especially in the media. The problem with such a
position is that this is not Europe or America. In Europe or
America investigating and prosecution authorities are careful about
the kind of information they disseminate to the public. They
usually refer to a man or woman being under investigation and
reveal very little of the evidence against such person, preferring
to leave that to the latter stages of the investigation and
prosecution. In Nigeria, the investigating and prosecuting
authorities immediately rush to the public domain. They hang what
sometimes later turns out to be their dirty laundry in full view of
the public. The public feast on it in a state of frenzy because
they have been pauperised and impoverished by varying governments
and they see a ready victim to blame for their woes. Little do they
realise that it is all a mirage and charade and they have been fed
foul meat that will result in stomach churning double somersaults.
Worse still, the investigators and prosecutors may end up with egg
splattered all over their faces as their gung-ho approach to
maligning and impugning people without any regard to the sanctity
and sacredness of the principle of fair hearing and the pursuit of
justice.

What I find most disturbing is that neither investigator nor,
worse still, prosecutor ever bothers to do their due diligence
well. Once they pick on a scapegoat, they rush out all manner of
distortions and incongruous information. They pick on the most
incoherent witnesses, procured under duress, or pecuniary promises.
Such was the case of Dr Saraki. The melodrama was nauseating. Yet,
they had many people who acted as chorus singers and amplified the
lies to all corner of the world. You sometimes wonder, why are we
so mean to ourselves? Why do we want to waste and destroy all the
gains of democracy many died for in the past. Had Saraki resigned,
he would have fallen for the dastardly ploy of politically
assailants, akin to hired assassins of character, to get rid of
him. When that failed, other darts were fired in his direction. He
was practically accused of being a part of an armed robbery gang
that callously wasted so many lives in one fell swoop. The
denouement of this whole debacle and theatre of the absurd is
gradually playing out in the Courts, before our very eyes. It is
taking God’s intervention to save Saraki from being totally
obliterated and annihilated in the process. After that, some
heavily hooded and menacing security personnel invaded the
precincts of the National Assembly, like hooded outlaws reminiscent
of Robin Hood and his band of merry men. The only difference was
that these were not outlaws, but men sworn to protect the sanctity
of the very institution that they were desecrating with their
disloyal presence. The military’s oath is to defend the people, the
country and its institutions and not any individual, particularly
if that individual is acting against the interests of the country
and its institutions. Fortunately, the Vice President in his
characteristic forceful and no-nonsense manner when he has been in
charge put an end to that madness and ensured that democratic
institutions continued to be respected.

This was the same template that was put in place for the Chief
Justice. As obvious as the act was, many still fell for the scam.
The timing was patently wrong, too close to the general elections.
The modus operandi was ghoulish. Someone hurriedly put together a
scurrilous petition in which we were regaled with tales by
moonlight of a stupendously wealthy Chief Justice of the Federation
who must have been criminally guilty of ‘moonlighting’! The denial
of any involvement by the administration in this hurriedly
concocted travesty, suddenly turned into a wholesale approbation of
the means, ways and methods used to catch the ‘thief’. All known
principles of justice and morals were soon sacrificed at the altar
of expediency, even though the government should have been briefed,
by various arms of the security agencies, that most of the baseless
allegations had not been verified or investigated.

A whole Chief Justice of the Federation looked so dejected,
rejected and pathetic. He was treated like a petty thief, a common
criminal. He was unable to properly articulate his defence as he
had already been convicted in the court of public opinion based on
the frivolous and desperate evidence dished out by his traducers.
His office was stolen from him in a brazen and total disregard for
the constitution and its safeguard to check the excesses of
government and abuse of power by one arm of government. The CJN was
even brought before his peers and other members of the National
Judicial Council (NJC) like a useless felon. Many legal giants
sprang stoutly into action on his behalf. All kinds of legal and
constitutional theories were propounded, and different stratagem
employed. Some other lawyers rose up in support of the government,
saying we need to fight corruption to standstill. Why not? But not
at the expense of freedom and liberty. I have always said and
maintained that we should never set fire to an entire village in
order to catch rats. Even if government has incontrovertible
evidence against Onnoghen, our Justice system needs to learn and
imbibe some decorum. The sum total of all this drama was that the
law, and its chief defender and upholder, were beginning to look
like the proverbial ass!

I could therefore not believe my eyes when the climax to all of
this tragic dramedy played out at the Code of Conduct Tribunal
proceedings of the past week. There six prosecution witnesses, but
it seems that after hearing the damaging evidence of the previous
three, the prosecution could not go an any longer as their case
appeared to be in tatters. Witness after witness burst the bubble
that had been the prosecution’s case in the media. There were not
55 houses, but 5. I guess somebody had mistakenly typed 5 twice and
it stuck. After all, as another witness stated none of the facts
contained in Onnoghen’s asset declaration form had been verified.
To further compound matters the Court was told that all his
so-called foreign accounts were local domicillary accounts. Worse
was to be exposed before the Tribunal as it was revealed that there
was not $3,000,000 in the totality of his accounts, but less than
$300,000 even at the most optimistic position of taking opening
balances in January 2018 into account. Indeed, he had taken a loan
of $500,000 which was collateralised by his investments in Federal
Government Bonds and diverse stock. A patriot indeed. Recall that
in the bid to shore up what must have been known to be a very bad
case, investigators had rushed to Onnoghen’s farm and carted away
several allegedly ‘incriminating’ documents and equipment.

The Defence on behalf of Onnoghen has applied to file a no-case
submission. The Prosecution naturally has a right to reply to it.
Without attempting to preempt the court and being conscious of the
delicate fine balance of necessary to be observed once a matter is
sub judice, I believe it is pertinent to note that in other
countries both developing and developed, the prosecutor, knowing
that his role is to do justice, present the facts to the court, and
not merely seek a conviction, would have thrown in the towel. I
wait to see what this prosecutor will do. More importantly, I wait
to see whether the government will offer Onnoghen the profound and
sincere apology that he deserves if he is discharged by the
CCT.

We seem to be in a season of politics and litigations and it was
a double whammy this week. It is with no surprise at all to me that
I learnt of the victory of Senator Ademola Adeleke of the PDP at
the Governorship Election Tribunal for Osun State albeit by a
majority decision of two to one with the Chairman of the Tribunal
Justice Ibrahim Sirajo dissenting. That election, particularly what
has now been held to be the illegal rerun election, was fraught
with irregularities, malpractices and voter intimidation by the
ruling Party, APC and some elements of the military. When INEC
chose not to call any evidence to rebut the allegations of the PDP
about these matters, I knew the game was almost up. The whole pack
of cards finally collapsed when the submissions of the APC lawyers
was not the loud bang that we expected, but nothing more than a
whimper.

Senator Adeleke’s victory appears to be a victory for democracy
and a vindication for all lovers of democracy who put their faith
in the judiciary as the last bastion of the common man. It is also
to the credit of the government of President Buhari that it has
chosen not to interfere at all in what was happening at the
election Tribunal. Some people felt that the government would have
used its power and influence to seek to re-write the verdict. Kudos
to the government on this score.

What happens next demonstrates the fact that it is not yet Uhuru
for Senator Adeleke. He cannot claim the mandate as his despite the
powerful pronouncement of the Tribunal. APC has already appealed to
the Court of Appeal, as it is its legitimate right to do. Whichever
of the parties wins at the Court of Appeal, it is clear that the
other losing party will appeal to the Supreme Court. The practice
up till now is that until the Supreme Court gives its verdict the
person declared to be the winner by INEC will continue in office.
Senator Adeleke may therefore have a little longer to claim the
mandate which he says was stolen from him.

I congratulate, my dear friend, Senator Ademola Adeleke, for his
victory in the first leg of this three-legged race. I wish him the
very best as he faces the next challenge of persuading the
Appellate Courts to uphold his victory. Time and the Supreme Court
will ultimately tell who the spoils of victory will go to.

For now, the lesson to be learnt, which is pertinent to
remember, as we go into the rerun and supplementary elections
today, is that there is no profit in all these anti-democratic acts
that our politicians are wont to resort to because democracy and
justice will ultimately triumph.