Dennis Aghanya, the author of the petition against Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), is President Muhammadu Buhari’s former media aide. Aghanya is the executive secretary of the Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI), a civil society group that petitioned the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) over alleged non-declaration of assets by the CJN.
He was Buhari’s aide between 2009 and 2011 and the pioneer national publicity secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He is also the founding member of The Buhari Organisation (TBO). When the national assembly had a face-off with the president over the lack of due process on the purchase of $496 million aircraft from the US, Aghanya appealed to the leadership of the national assembly to show understanding.
“For anyone to think of impeachment process against him is not right. We have many problems at hand. Violation of a constitutional provision is bad but it is worse to act in an immoral manner,” Aghanya had said. In his recent petition, Aghanya accused the CJN of maintaining domiciliary foreign currencies accounts said to be contrary to relevant laws, especially for public office holders.
He said the petition became necessary “bearing in mind the imminence of the 2019 General Elections and the overwhelming roles of the Judicial Arm both before and after”. TheCable had earlier reported that there were moves to remove Onnoghen before the elections. The trial of the CJN before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) is slated to commence on Monday. The Cable
Pix: Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen
