THE PACT PDP HAD WITH ONNOGHEN

The truth be told, Justice ONNOGHEN should have been removed before the breakout of the asset declaration saga. Intelligence report had captured the role he played with Justice Mary Odili in the Rivers State gubernatorial election tribunal. Wike is like a godson to Dr Odili - the husband of Mary Odili a justice of the Supreme court of Nigeria. Wike's wife is also a judge of the High Court.

Intelligence report has it that millions of dollars exchanged hands between Wike and some justices of the Supreme Court of which ONNOGHEN was chief. The supreme Court at that time reversed the judgements of the election tribunal and the appeal court in a very dubious manner. The senate president Dr Bukola Saraki also bought his acquittal at the supreme with a lot of dollars. The payments were made using fronts with different companies' account. Nyesom Wike is the link man for the PDP with the justices of the supreme court. He was also the one who secured their support for Fayose at the supreme court. President Buhari got this report but declined to move drastically against the justices involved. It was after this that justices of the supreme came under close monitoring and scrutiny. Of course it wasn't long before their dirty acts were exposed. If Nigerians know a quarter of the corruption these justices are involved in, nobody will bother to approach the supreme Court for redress except their partners in crime - a few corrupt SANs.

Onnoghen was just unfortunate to have mistakenly allowed deposits to be made into his bank accounts. Many judges and justices collect dollars in cash through fronts. This way, it is almost impossible to trace the bribes. Many store them in secret safes at home. The DSS knows this. Reason the residences of some judges and Justices were raided last year. I led the operation to Ngwuta's (JSC) properties. I know what we found. It was alarming and mind boggling. If all his salaries and allowances since he started his legal career were summed up it could never have purchased what we found in his houses even if he had worked for 100yrs. They were charged to court to fulfil all righteousness but we weren't stupid. We knew their colleagues will let them go. And they sure did. Today, the same Ngwuta JSC still sits at the Supreme Court dispensing justice. What justice?

Now to the issue of pact between Onnoghen and the PDP. Atiku knows it is very unlikely that Buhari will be defeated in February. But his plan B is to use the judiciary. Again, Wike is the go-between. That is why Atiku was desperate to have him support his candidacy. The crux of the pact is to rule against PMB at the election tribunal and order that Atiku be sworn in. They need just three justices to do this. Mary Odili will not be involved so as not give any room for suspicion. But Bode-Rhodes Vivour and Ngwuta JSC are on stand by. For your information, Bode-Rhodes Vivour is a well known PDP sympathiser. In fact, his son is a PDP house of representative aspirant in Lagos State. Ngwuta has an axe to grind with the federal government. So you can see it's almost a done deal. There is no way Buhari would have survived an election tribunal with Onnoghen being the CJN. The CJN is the one who will constitute the panel to try the case.

The judicial option is a major game plan of the PDP. They are not depending on it for the the presidential election alone but for the barring of APC candidates in Zamfara and Rivers states. They also depend on it for Ogun state where Ladi Adebutu and Buruji Kashamu are laying claim to the governorship ticket of the party. The supreme court is set to pronounce Ladi Adebutu as the party's candidate if PDP wins in Ogun. And by the way, the DSS has copious evidence that Chief Secondus, the PDP chairman got a cash gift of N250m from Ladi to lay claim to PdP's ticket in Ogun.

So the suspension of the CJN is a major set back for Atiku and the PDP. It has thrown a spanner in the works for their plans. One is not surprised the party cancelled it's presidential campaign because of the CJN's suspension. They have no choice but to return to the drawing board. Let's see how far they can go with less than 30days to the election.

If Nigeria must win this war against corruption, the judiciary must be sanitised. This includes lawyers and justices. Nigeria's judiciary remains the weakest link in this fight. Unfortunately, Buhari is not doing enough. With what we have heard from his close aides at the Villa, he is always afraid of what people will say. He seems confined by the fear of being referred to as a dictator. But no one achieves anything worthwhile by being afraid of what people will say. There was enough evidence not to have confirmed Onnoghen as CJN. But he gave consent to Osinbajo after a lot of pressure. The fight must be frontal not minding whose ox is gored. That is what Lew Kuan Yew did in Singapore. He said " I had to do some nasty things, locking fellows up without trial". That was a Cambridge trained lawyer.

And to those who argue this fight is one-sided. As persuasive as this position is the question they should be bordered with is are the accused innocent or not. If APC is after thieves in PDP, as long as they are thieves it is fine. When PDP gets into government they should endeavor too to go after the thieves in APC. By so doing the number of thieves in our midst will be reduced. But till then,let every caught thief face judgement.

CHRIS MADUKA
Director at DSS
(PhD Criminology, University of Hull)

NB...Yes, I am a director at DSS but Chris MADUKA is a pseudonym. I'm not that stupid to reveal my real identity.