The innocence or otherwise of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, in the alleged non asset declaration charges will be determined come April 18, fixed for judgment by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). Also on April 18, the CCT would deliver its rulings on two applications filed by Onnoghen in which he challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the suit and the other which prayed the tribunal chairman to recuse himself from the trial on account of bias. Onnoghen is standing trial on a six-count charge of false assets declaration filed against him by the government.
The chairman of the three-man panel, Danladi Umar, on Monday fixed the date for judgment shortly after the defendant’s lawyer Okon Efut (SAN) and the prosecution’s lawyer Aliyu Umar (SAN) adopted their written addresses as their final brief of argument.
The date for judgment was announced roughly three months after the CCT had scheduled Onnoghen for trial following a petition written to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) by a non-governmental organization. The tribunal chairman said the verdict would be delivered along with two pending rulings on Onnoghen’s applications. One such application is the challenge of the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the case. The other application is asking the CCT chairman to disqualify himself from further presiding over the case for being allegedly bias.
Onnoghen is arraigned at the CCT following a charge against him brought by the Code of Conduct Bureau in January. The CCB accused Onnoghen of failing to declare his assets from June 2005, after he became a Justice of the Supreme Court till December 2016, two months after the Federal Government raided the homes of several judges, including those of the Supreme Court in October 2018.
According to the six-count charge brought against him, Onnoghen is also accused of false declaration of his assets, following his alleged failure to include some domiciliary accounts managed by the Standard Chartered Bank. President Muhammadu Buhari said in January that apart from the “grievous” allegations against Onnoghen, “the security agencies have since then traced other suspicious transactions running into millions of dollars to the CJN’s personal accounts, all undeclared or improperly declared as required by law.”
“In line with this administration’s avowed respect for the Rule of Law, I have wholeheartedly obeyed the Order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal dated 23rd January 2019,” Buhari said. He said the suspended CJN’s excuse that the non-declaration was due to mistake and forgetfulness was not known to law.
Onnoghen on April 4 in a letter notified Buhari of his decision to vacate office as the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
