Appeal Court to review judgment that removed ex-CJN, Onnoghen

Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, will, today, at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, resume his legal battle against the judgment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) that ordered his removal from office in 2019.

The suit had been filed at the Court of Appeal since April 2019.The former head of the judiciary is praying the Court of Appeal to void and set aside the CCT judgment delivered against him on April 18, 2019, on various grounds.

In his appeal marked CA/ABJ/375 & 376 & 377/2019, Justice Onnoghen, through his lead counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, is asking the appellate court to quash his conviction primarily on ground of want of jurisdiction, bias and and absence of fair hearing.

With Onnoghen as the appellant, the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the sole respondent.  A notice for hearing of the appeal just sighted by our correspondent is entitled, “CA/ABJ/375 & 376 & 377/2019 BTW: Justice Onnoghen and FRN”.

It reads: “Please take notice that the above matter is listed for hearing on Tuesday the 20th day of August, 2024 at 9 o’clock in Court Appeal, Abuja Division. 

“Please take note that this serves as a hearing notice.” The Code of Conduct Tribunal had in 2019 convicted Onnoghen in all the six-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 Chairman of the CCT, Danladi Yakubu Umar, he ordered the immediate removal of Onnoghen from office as the CJN. Although Onnoghen had been on suspension since January 25, 2019 and had resigned on April 4, the tribunal nonetheless ordered his removal from office as the Chief Justice of Nigeria and also as the chairman of both the National Judicial Council and the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

However, dissatisfied with the CCT decision, Onnoghen in 2019 approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja with 16 grounds on why his conviction by the tribunal should be quashed. 

Onnoghen applied for an order setting aside his conviction and another one setting aside the order for forfeiture of his assets made by the tribunal as well as to discharge and acquit him from the charges.