TRIBUNE
The report of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF) querying over N12 billion spending by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, has again, raised the question of ethics for the apex court, which in recent time, appears to be moving from one accountability saga to another, especially in the last five years, spanning three Chief Justices as the final authority in fund utilisation in the system.
In the report, which was released in December last year, but covering the 2020 financial year, issues were raised regarding the utilization of N12.335 billion by the apex court.
The current leadership of Chief Justice Kayode Ariwoola, according to the timeline, played no part in the alleged financial breach which included alleged irregular award of contracts and overpayment of contractors, as well as alleged inflation of contract price and payments for contracts without budgetary provisions. The leadership of the era in focus was also accused of diverting government assets for private use.
The report covers the tenures of ex-CJNs Walter Onnoghen and Tanko Muhammad, with the latter being the head of the arm of the government, when the federal audit, took place.
Tanko headed the court between 2019 and 2022 before he prematurely exited from office, after his then-14 colleagues jointly wrote a protest letter, attacking his leadership style and alleged poor accountability culture.
While in office, Onnoghen and Tanko were served by Mrs Hadizatu Uwani-Mustapha, as the Chief Registrar, though she retired in June 2021, with the incumbent, Hajo Sarki-Bello, seeing out the rest of Tanko’s stay in office, before he was forced out by the Muhammadu Buhari government.
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