CJN says he’s ready for EFCC probe

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, has said that he has nothing to hide and has promised that he is ever ready to avail himself for probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The statement by the CJN on Wednesday was sequel to a media report that listed him among high-profile Nigerians under investigation by the anti-graft agency which was forwarded to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

The report had listed apart from the CJN, the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience, immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; the immediate past AGF, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN) and a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed Others are former Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, incumbent Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, his counterpart, Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, the Senate’s Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, ex-governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sherriff and former governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion, among several others.

But in a statement signed by his media aide, Mr. Awassam Bassey, the CJN said that he was ready to pay the required price to make the nation a better place.

“Our attention has been drawn to media reports quoting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as probing the Hon. The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Hon. Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, GCON, for yet-to-be disclosed reasons.

“The reports in the media mentioned the reason for the investigation as ‘intelligence’ which for now we take to be abstract.

“However, the Hon. CJN wishes to use this medium to say that it is the first time he is being aware of any allegations or intelligence against him, neither has he been invited or called upon to offer any explanation on any impropriety.

“However, the Hon. CJN wishes to assure the public that he has nothing to hide and is open to investigation. As a committed patriot who has spent all his adult life in the temple of justice, the Hon. CJN is ready to pay the required price to make the nation a better place.

“The commitment of the Hon CJN to the efforts of the current administration to rid the country of corrupt practices is unwavering and he will stop at nothing to see a new dawn in Nigeria’s Judiciary. He will also not be distracted in his avowed reformative efforts to make the Nigerian Judiciary a beacon of well-rounded justice which the entire citizenry will be proud of”.

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Meanwhile, the EFCC on Wednesday in a statement released by the its head, Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, and entitled “CJN not currently under investigation”, refuted the media report that the commission was investigating CJN Onnoghen.

“The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been drawn to a story entitled, CJN, Okonjo-Iweala, Fayemi, Fayose, Others Under Probe- EFCC, which appeared in The Punch Newspaper of today Wednesday September 6, 2017 regarding a list of high profile persons.

“According to the newspaper, ‘The list, sighted by one of our correspondents via an EFCC source on Monday, was recently sent by the anti-graft agency to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), based on request’.

“It is important to state that this report did not emanate from the EFCC and the allusion to ‘an EFCC source’ is diversionary and mischievous”, he stated.

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