Aghanya Denies Buhari Link to Onnoghen’s Removal, Says ARDI Petition Was Evidence-Based

The Executive Secretary of the Anti-Corruption and Research-Based Data Initiative (ARDI), Dennis Aghanya, has rejected claims that he was used by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to facilitate the removal of former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Aghanya, who filed the petition that led to proceedings against Onnoghen over alleged false asset declarations, said the action followed an investigation conducted by ARDI and was not politically motivated.

He spoke publicly for the first time in eight years during an interview on Deep Insight With Agbonsuremi, a podcast hosted by veteran journalist Augustine Okhiria Agbonsuremi.

According to him, the investigation had been ongoing for more than a year before the petition was submitted to the relevant authorities.

Aghanya explained that ARDI’s responsibility was to investigate issues of public interest, document its findings and submit them to the appropriate authorities, while leaving law enforcement agencies to determine the next course of action.

“It is not me, Dennis, it is the NGO. I am the executive secretary of the NGO. A lot of people are involved,” he said.

He maintained that the fight against corruption must not be influenced by political, ethnic or personal interests.

“Corruption should not be fought on a personal basis. The fight against corruption should be fair. It shouldn’t be motivated by either political affiliations or things of that nature,” Aghanya said.

Aghanya dismissed the argument that the timing of the petition suggested a political agenda, insisting that ARDI’s investigation began more than a year before the 2019 general elections.

He said the organisation became concerned about issues surrounding the ability of public institutions, particularly the judiciary, to effectively deal with corruption-related matters.

“That’s a very funny perception by whoever shares that view because this particular issue… was something we had been on for more than one year,” he said.

He also denied acting on behalf of Buhari, recalling that although he once had a political relationship with the former president, the relationship had ended years before the Onnoghen controversy.

Aghanya said he previously served as Buhari’s media spokesperson under the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and later became the pioneer National Publicity Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

He, however, disclosed that their relationship deteriorated after he challenged Buhari in court over internal party matters.

“By 2011, we had rumbles in CPC, and we parted ways. That was the last time I had contact with, not just Buhari, but also some other people close to him,” he said.

He therefore questioned how he could have been acting on Buhari’s behalf several years later.

Defending the integrity of the petition, Aghanya said ARDI merely submitted the findings of its investigation to the relevant authorities and had no control over the subsequent actions of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) or the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

He argued that critics had focused mainly on the eventual outcome of the case instead of the evidence that formed the basis of ARDI’s petition.

“The issue to us, which everybody should be concerned about, is that we carried out an investigation based on facts and evidence, and we forwarded it,” he said.

Asked whether he had apologised to Onnoghen following his removal from office and the eventual collapse of the case at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Aghanya said he had no reason to apologise, maintaining that ARDI acted within its mandate based on the information and evidence available to it at the time.