Former CJN, Justice Onnoghen, Appeals 2019 CCT Verdict that Stripped Him of Office and Assets
A former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen will on Tuesday resume his legal battle at the Court of Appeal Abuja against the judgment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) that ordered his removal from office in 2019.
The former head of the Nigerian judiciary in the suit filed at the court of appeal since 2019 is praying the court of appeal to void and set aside the CCT judgment delivered against him on April 18, 2019.
In his appeal, Justice Onnoghen, through his lead counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, is asking the appellate court to quash his conviction primarily on the ground of want of jurisdiction, bias and absence of fair hearing.
The CCT in 2019 convicted Justice Onnoghen in all the 6-count charges of breach of code of conduct for public officers brought against him by the Federal Government while in office as head of the country’s judiciary.
In the lead judgment delivered by the Chairman of the CCT, Danladi Yakubu Umar, he had ordered the immediate removal of Onnoghen from office as the CJN.
The tribunal had also stripped him of all offices earlier occupied among which were the chairman of the National Judicial Council, NJC, and also the chairmanship of the Federal Judicial Service Commission.
The tribunal also ordered the forfeiture of his five bank accounts and the money in the accounts which Onnoghen did not declare in his asset declaration form submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau, an agency of the Federal Government.
