‘I Forgot To Declare My Assets’ – CJN Onnoghen

Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), says he forgot to declare his asset.

Naija News had reported earlier that the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari, ordered Justice Onnoghen to immediately vacate office.

This online news platform learned that the government will on Monday, January 14, 2019, arraign Justice Onnoghen before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital on charges of failures to declare his assets as required by law and for operating Bank Domiciliary Foreign Currency Accounts.

According to PRNigeria, the charges against the CJN has already been filed and served on him last Friday at his official residence in the Federal Capital Territory preparatory for his appearance at the tribunal.

Responding to the petition in a statement, the CJN said he forgot to make a declaration of his assets after the expiration of his 2005 declaration in 2009.

The CJN said: “My asset declaration form numbers SCN 00014 and SCN 00005 were declared on the same day, 14/12/2016 because I forgot to make a declaration of my assets after the expiration of my 2005 declaration in 2009. Following my appointment as acting CJN in November 2016, the need to declare my assets anew made me to realize the mistake.

“I then did the declaration to cover the period in default. I did not include my standard charted bank account in SCN 000014 because I believed they were not opened.

“I did not make a fresh declaration of asset after my substantive appointment as CJN because I was under the impression that my SCN 000015 was to cover that period of four years which includes my term as CJN.”

Meanwhile, the CJN will appear in the dock on Monday before the Justice Danladi Yakubu led-Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.