The Court of Appeal in Abuja has acquitted and discharged Justice Walter Onnoghen, the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, on allegations of false assets declaration.

In April 2019, Onnoghen was convicted of the omission of funds in his five domiciliary accounts by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

A three-member panel of justices led by Abba Mohammed held that the decision was based on the terms of the settlement reached by the parties in the matter.

The panel ordered the return of the four bank accounts seized from Onnoghen.

The terms of the agreement, which the appellate court noted was voluntarily entered by parties, read, “The Appellant herein was charged at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), on six counts dated January 11, 2019, to which he pleaded not guilty.

“The tribunal before the commencement of trial, heard and granted an ex-parte application seeking for an order for the appellant to step aside as the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council, and for the President to swear in the next most senior Justice of the Supreme Court as acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, thereby removing the appellant from office.

“The appellant before and during the trial, raised objections challenging the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), to hear and determine the matter same having not been brought by due process of the law, as the appellant being a judicial officer, ought to have been reported to the National Judicial Council first; whose findings and recommendations would determine the action(s) to be taken against him.

“The appellant also filed an application asking the chairman of the code of conduct tribunal to recuse himself from the proceedings because of the biased conduct he exhibited during the proceedings. The parties herein have expressed a collective desire to settle the appeals out of court.”

It further stated that pursuant to the above, it was agreed by the parties that the respondent conceded the appeals in the following terms:

“That the three appeals namely: (1) CA/A/375c/2019 (2) CA/A/376c/2019 and (3) CA/A/377c/2019 be consolidated for the purpose of hearing and settlement herein.

“That in relation to appeal nos: CA/A/375c/2019 and CA/A/376c/2019, it is settled that the code of conduct tribunal lacks jurisdiction to try and convict the appellant (a judicial officer) without first resorting to the National Judicial Council (NJC) in accordance with the following decisions: FRN vs NGANJIWA (2022) 17 NWLR (Pt.1860) 407 @ 468; NGANJIWA vs FRN (2018) 4 NWLR (Pt.1609) 301; OPENE vs NJC (2011) LPELR-4795 (CA).

“Secondly, that the tribunal lacks jurisdiction to have tried and convicted the appellant even after the appellant had tendered his voluntary retirement letter and same was accepted unconditionally by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” it added.

N3TRAL:
Everyone knows that the only reason Onnoghen was removed was to ensure that the Supreme Court and by extension the judiciary was headed by a Muslim from Northern Nigeria before the 2019 Presidential Election.


If he was in the military, he would have been compulsorily made to retire so that a General from the North can assume office.

However, there's no such thing in the NJC so accusing him of failure to declare his assets was the only way they could remove him.

Why do we call Nigeria a just country when a person who had served the country for years can only assume a position reserved him/her, as the most senior official, by law if and only of he is from the tribe of the President?

Many experienced Generals in combat are retired so that inexperienced ones can "save" the President from an imaginary coup.

springsherv:
Na so. Just make money anyhow, you will sort law and government later

springsherv:
Na so. Just make money anyhow, you will sort law and government later

maxiuc:


Buhari use onoghen play political games

He knows he's not going to win 2019 Elections and having Onoghen as supreme court justice will hinder his second tenure because knew since he's not going to win clear and clean his opponents will definitely contest it and if it eventually gets to supreme court Onoghen will not do his biddings so he Buhari and his bands of criminal has to manufacture allegations against Onoghen just to get him out of the way, that's when I totally gave up on Nigeria politicians has really finished this country and relying on the legislatives Inec judiciary military and police officers to redirect this country is efforts in futility.

Nigeria is gone and Tinubu is opening another version of depreciations

JohnBullMySon:


He was never guilty. Buhari and his cohorts propped up nonsense to remove him from office.

senatordave1:


He was guilty,he admitted to it