Onnoghen: Former Minister Reacts to CCT Judgment

• Momoh says he advised Onnoghen to resign by saving his face from embarrassment.
• Urges APC to allow National Assembly members to elect their leaders.

A former Minister of Information, Tony Momoh, has reacted to the recent pronouncement the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.

In a statement he signed on Friday, Momoh, a close ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, said that the argument of some lawyers that Onnoghen shouldn’t have been taken to CCT was not tenable, arguing that such lawyers didn’t know what they were talking about.

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He also stated that he doesn’t believe that it is a case of a witch-hunt, having advised him (Onnoghen) to resign when the case started. He added that that would have saved him from the embarrassment,

Momoh, who noted that the CCT and the Code of Conduct Tribunal, were established by Part One of the fifth schedule of the constitution, with the powers to deal with sitting presidents and governors said part two deals with those who are subjected to its jurisdiction, which is the President, Vice-President, CJN, down to councillors. The CCT is a disciplinary body.

APC Supremacy won’t work

On permutations about the composition of the leadership position for the 9th National Assembly, Momoh said that the reliance of the All Progressives Congress, APC on party supremacy to impose its candidates would not work.

According to him, claims of party supremacy could only be effective in a parliamentary, not presidential system of government because the political party with the majority would always form the government in the former.\

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While noting that since 1999, efforts by political parties to impose their candidates on the nation’s parliament had always been resisted by federal lawmakers, he added that the National Assembly had its own personality that it always protected in spite of political party differences.

Momoh added that the party’s choice could only succeed if there was cooperation and not by imposition.