If anyone had told the former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, that he would pay for his sins a few years after removing the then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, he would not have believed it.
Penultimate week, Justice Peter Kekemeke of an Abuja High Court sitting in Maitama, ordered his remand in Kuje Correctional Centre after the federal government formally docked him over allegations that he abused his office by receiving illicit payments from contractors while serving as head of the tribunal.
According to the prosecution, investigations revealed that Umar used his wife’s bank account to receive N5.5 million from a contractor that was awarded the contract to paint the headquarters of the CCT in Abuja in 2021.
The federal government further alleged that on January 25, 2024, the former tribunal chairman again used his wife’s account to collect N6 million from another contractor handling the digitisation of the CCT’s records.
In another count, the prosecution accused Umar of directing a contractor to pay N2.43 million for his daughter’s tuition at Baze University, Abuja.
When the charges were read, Umar pleaded not guilty to all four counts and was remanded for about a week. It was last Wednesday he was granted a N100million bail.
Umar’s arraignment came seven years after he presided over one of Nigeria’s most controversial and shameful judicial proceedings involving the removal of then CJN, Justice Onnoghen.
On January 23, 2019, while serving as Chairman of CCT, Umar issued an ex parte order that paved the way for the suspension of Onnoghen from office. Two days later, the then-President Muhammadu Buhari swore in the next most senior Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Muhammad, as Acting CJN.
Although Onnoghen later resigned from office on April 4, 2019, Umar proceeded to convicting him on April 18, 2019, over allegations of false asset declaration.
That was how Umar truncated Onnoghen’s illustrious career which would have seen him stay in office as CJN for six years.
The time of reckoning has come and many believe Umar is paying for his sins.