By Temidayo Akinsuyi
Prince Tony Momoh, a national leader of the
ruling All Progressives Congress (APC ) and former Minister of
Information in this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI speaks on the
controversy trailing the suspension of former Chief Justice of
Nigeria(CJN), Walter Onnoghen and other issues. Excerpts:
As a
lawyer and someone who has held a high public office, what is your
perspective on the controversy trailing the suspension of the former
CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen?
It is not what I think but I know
what the law says. Section 172 of the Constitution says that every
public officer at federal level will abide by the provisions of the 5th
Schedule. The 5th schedule is the Code of Conduct provision in the
constitution. Then Section 209 says that every public servant at the
state level will abide by the provisions of the 5th schedule. The first
part of the 5th schedule creates the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and
the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). Part 2 states those who are subject
to the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Code of Conduct Tribunal. The
first on the list is the President and the Vice-President. Going down
the line, you will see the Chief Justice of Nigeria and other judicial
officers. Going down the line, you will see the President of the Code
of Conduct Bureau and the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal. All
public officers both at the state and federal level are subject to the
provisions of the Code of Conduct . Before they take office, they swear
to abide by the provisions of the Code of Conduct. Whether you are
taking the office of President, Governor, National Assembly or Chairman
of Local Government, all public officers at the state or federal level
swear to abide by the Code of Conduct provision in the constitution. If
you are taking office, the CCB will give you a form to fill declaring
your assets. If you declare your assets, every four years, you renew
that declaration. If anything turns up before the four years, you will
revisit that declaration. If there is any problem about you declaring,
they will ask you and then you react. If they think it is necessary,
they refer you to the CCT.
What then are the functions of the CCT?
The
CCT is not a court, it is a disciplinarian body that disciplines those
who are working at both the federal and state level. So, technically,
the CCT has no jurisdiction over those who are not public servants.
Public servants are those listed under Part 2 of the Schedule, starting
with the President down to the Councillor. It means therefore that you
are not protected by the immunity which Section 308 of the Constitution
grants to the President, Vice-President, Governors and Deputy Governors.
There is however a proviso. The protection by immunity is during the
period of office when they are performing the functions of office. No
court can try these four persons during that period. But you can be
investigated and when you are investigated, there are two bodies that
will deal with you, that is the House of Assembly in the case of the
governor and the National Assembly in the case of the President through a
process called impeachment. Then the other body is the CCB and the CCT.
Your
own functions are in Schedule 7 when you take the oath of office.
Before you assume office, you take the oath of allegiance to the
constitution of Nigeria and then the oath of office. The President,
Vice-President, Governors and Deputies, Ministers and lawmakers all take
the oath of allegiance where what they are supposed to do is spelt
out. There is nowhere in that oath of office where it is said that you
will be corrupt or be a money launderer. So, if you look at it, the
immunity clause does not protect anyone who is corrupt because
corruption or money laundering are not functions of an office.
If
for instance, there is anything about filling the forms; it will go to
the CCB and not any other person. That is the body that monitors the
performance of your office irrespective of your position or the office
you are holding.
Some are arguing that the CJN should have been
made to appear before the National Judicial Council (NJC) and not the
CCT. What is your take on that?
If there is anything wrong with
your asset declaration, it will go to the CCT. You don’t take your case
to NJC or any other body. The NJC is a disciplinary body for judicial
officers and when you do anything wrong in the performance of your
functions as a judicial officer, you go there. Anything that has to with
criminal acts goes to either the High Court or CCT.
So, if I
were the CJN, since I have agreed that there was something wrong in my
filling of forms which calls my integrity to question, I will resign. I
put all the blame on the CJN. As far as I am concerned, since he has
accepted that there is irregularity in his filling of forms, let him
save us all the trouble by resigning or stepping aside.
Do you think President Buhari breached the constitution by suspending him from office?
If
you refuse to step down after you have admitted guilt, what do you
think will happen? You think the whole world should be laughing at us
that we have corrupt officers in our government? Someone should save us
the embarrassment that Onnoghen’s remaining in office is causing us and
that is what President Buhari has done by suspending him.
What
is your take on the recent claim by former President Olusegun Obasanjo
that President Buhari is behaving like a dictator and that he has
perfected plans to rig the forthcoming presidential election?
Looking
at Obasanjo, my own take is that he has established himself as the most
present former head of state in the history of Nigeria. He is present
and vocal in every regime. He was present during Shagari’s time, he was
present during Buhari’s first coming between 1984 and 1985, he was
present during Babangida’s era between 1985 and 1993, he was present
during Abacha’s time from 1993 to 1998, he was present during
Abdulsalami Abubakar’s time, he was present during his own regime when
he worked with Atiku Abubakar, whom he said can never be anything but
has now come to be his agent. He was present during Umaru Yar’Adua’s
time, he was present during Jonathan’s time and he is also present now.
So, there is no time he has not shown his presence at any regime and God
has given him good health for him to be able to be active.
But
looking at his records, he has shown to the average person that he is a
loser and unfortunate nuisance. Obasanjo is national nuisance. To him,
there is no other person apart from Obasanjo. He is very active but
wants to continue to be in power when he is no longer in power.
Source:- Independentng
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