Onnoghen Runs To Appeal Court After Tribunal Found Him Guilty Of False Assets Declaration

Published: April 19, 2019

Justice Walter Onnoghen has filed an appeal against the ruling of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) that found him guilty of assets declaration offences and sacked him as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

Recall that KanyiDaily reported that during the CCT ruling on Thursday, April 18, 2019, the tribunal chairman, Danladi Umar, ordered the immediate removal of Onnoghen from office as the CJN after he was guilty of false declaration of assets in breach of the provisions of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) for public officials.

The Tribunal also stripped him of all offices earlier occupied, such as the Chairman of the National Judicial Council and also the chairmanship of the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

According to a fresh report by The Nation, Onnoghen insisted that the tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to hear the charges and should have recused itself like he requested.

“The lower tribunal erred in law when it refused to recuse itself from the proceedings in view of the open declaration by the Chairman of the tribunal that he is only accountable to the President, who appointed him and nobody else, because he is not a judicial officer and thus, occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice,” the notice read.

Onnoghen also requested that the order to forfeit the monies found in the affected five bank accounts should be dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

After the reading of the judgement on Thursday, Onnoghen’s lead counsel, Okon Efut, hinted that the CCT’s decision will be challenged all the way to the Supreme Court.

“We know that all is not over in this matter. The wheel of justice grinds slowly. It grinds slowly but surely. But this is not a matter that will end here.
“We shall avail ourselves of all the processes and the hierarchy of the judiciary,” he said.

He also described the judgement as unconstitutional, alleging that it was already decided when the tribunal ordered Onnoghen’s suspension without fair hearing in January.