N12.3b audit query: S’Court faces ethics question again

LANRE ADEWOLE reviews the federal audit report querying accountability in the Supreme Court.

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.

Now, the federal auditors are asking Ms. Sarki-Bello to recover and remit to the treasury, the funds, allegedly mismanaged during the tenure of her predecessor.

The Chief Registrar of a court is the chief accounting and administrative officer, though answerable to the head of the court. The position is equivalent to that of a permanent secretary in the federal civil service and similarly, remunerated.

Though Uwani-Mustapha was reportedly quizzed by security agents, not long after she retired, nothing has been heard about the accountability questions raised during her tenure as the chief registrar, until the recent audit report.

The incumbent, who is expected to lead the recovery effort, is also fighting to retain her job, following the stated desire of the majority of the justices of the court, to see her moved elsewhere, for a more efficient replacement.

Chief registrars, who are not retiring on the job, are usually appointed judicial officers if they are being taken off the job, and this practice has held steady for the apex court, though the last two CRs of the apex court, hadn’t followed the pattern. Sarki-Bello’s former boss, Barrister Gambo Ahmed Saleh, in 2017, moved from the apex court, to become the secretary of the National Judicial Council (NJC), while the indicted Uwani-Mustapha retired from service.

In Sarki-Bello’s case, the chief Justice of Nigeria is reportedly not committed to her becoming a judge and instead, both may exit together this year, when Justice Ariwoola is retiring, since the CR is always holding the job at the pleasure of the CJN and the office isn’t tenured.

When Nigerian Tribune reached out to the spokesperson of the apex court, Dr. Festus Akande, he said he had been away from office for a while and won’t be competent speaking on the issues raised in the report he was yet to see and read.

A portion of the report, first reported by Premium Times, alleged that contrary to constitutional provisions and financial regulations, the apex court, in 2020, paid some beneficiaries over N10.223 billion through 124 vouchers which supporting documents, were not presented for audit.

There was also a case of N826.75 million, dubbed irregular payment to a contractor, which the federal auditors want Ms. Sarki-Bello to recover and remit to the national coffers.

The directive came with a threat of statutory sanctions as stated in the Financial Regulations of 2009, if not observed.

Delving into the contract saga, the report claimed that it was awarded for the construction of an access road to justices’ quarters (Yellow Houses) in Abuja in April 2021, when the immediate CR was close to retirement.

The contract was reportedly given out at N990,494,207.80, but the job was allegedly done halfway and abandoned.

“The contractor was paid N827 million (N827,075,713.04 in total) being 83.5 per cent of the contract sum resulting in an overpayment of N331,815,559.61,” the report claimed.

The apex court also allegedly awarded contracts totalling N371.5 million (N371,541,636 in total) for supplies, works and services in 2017 without budgetary provisions, with payments amounting to N112 million (N112,117,106.37) allegedly made in 2018, 2019 and 2020 “with no evidence of appropriation.”

 

Internal turmoil

Since January 2019, when internal conspiracy substantially strengthened the hands of the Buhari administration to force Onnoghen out as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Supreme Court hasn’t known much administrative stability, with financial issues regularly upsetting its graveyard peace. Insiders in the judiciary have repeatedly pointed at top officials of the court, as being responsible for the leakage of the documents that sealed Onnoghen’s fate, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, leading to his conviction and eventual retirement recommended by NJC.

Tanko, his successor, left in questionable circumstance as his brother justices unanimously rose against him, over alleged recklessness and selfishness in the management of the court’s funds. In his own case, his children were also variously mentioned in the alleged scandals that defined his crisis-ridden leadership.

The incumbent, Justice Ariwoola, has had his own fair share of alleged scandals, which bother mostly on alleged nepotism and running an exclusive leadership.

The turmoil in the system has also led to a new culture of retiring justices using their valedictory sittings, to call the attention of Nigerians and the rest of the world, to the alleged poor accountability regime in the court.

In May 2022, a month before Tanko was outted by his 14 colleagues as allegedly mismanaging their collective funds, Justice Ejembi Eko, at his retirement valedictory openly called on anti-corruption agencies to probe the entire judiciary.

In a stinging rebuke of the Tanko leadership, he said among other things, “Nothing stops the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, the ICPC and other investigatory agencies from opening the books of the judiciary to expose the corruption in the management of their budgetary resources. That does not compromise the independence of the judiciary. Rather, it promotes accountability.”

The Tanko fiasco was an unprecedented event in the life of the apex court, with the open rebellion, birthing the early ascension to leadership for Justice Ariwoola.

Two of the “rebels” that paved the way for the incumbent, Justices Abdu Aboki and  Dattijo Muhammad, also used their valedictory speeches, to demand deeper and greater accountability from the leadership.

While Aboki was mild in demanding more scrutiny in how supreme court’s monies are spent, Dattijo famously went all out against his boss, the CJN, demanding for a new beginning for the court, structurally, administratively and financially.

According to him, “unrelenting searchlight need to be beamed to unravel how the sums are expended.”