Court of Appeal to hear former CJN’s challenge against 2019 removal

The Court of Appeal will hear a significant case on Tuesday, as former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen seeks to overturn the 2019 judgment by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) that led to his removal from office.

Onnoghen, who filed the appeal in 2019, is challenging the CCT’s ruling delivered on April 18 of that year. The former CJN is asking the appellate court to nullify the tribunal’s decision on several grounds, citing errors in both law and procedure.

Central to Onnoghen’s appeal—filed under case numbers CA/ABJ/375, 376, & 377/2019—is the argument that the CCT lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case against him. His lead counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, is pressing the Court of Appeal to quash his conviction and overturn the CCT’s judgment.

Onnoghen further argues that the chairman of the CCT panel was biased and denied him a fair trial. He asserts that as a judicial officer at the time the charges were brought against him on January 11, 2019, he was not subject to the jurisdiction of the tribunal. Instead, he claims that only the National Judicial Council (NJC) had the authority to discipline him.

In his appeal, Onnoghen highlights specific errors in the CCT’s ruling, emphasizing that the lower tribunal had overstepped its bounds by punishing him. He cited the tribunal’s own previous ruling in the case of FRN v. Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta (charge No: CCT/ABJ/01/2017), which affirmed the position of the Court of Appeal in Nganjiwa v. FRN, as precedent supporting his argument.

Contrary to the findings of the CCT, Onnoghen maintains that he never admitted guilt regarding the non-declaration of assets. He also contests the order for the confiscation of his assets, arguing that it violated paragraph three of section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) Act, which permits the seizure of properties only if they were acquired through fraud.

Additionally, Onnoghen criticized the prosecution for failing to present the petitioner, Denis Aghanya, whose complaint initiated the charges against him, before the tribunal.

In April 2019, a three-member panel of the CCT, chaired by Danladi Umar, convicted Onnoghen on six counts of false asset declaration, resulting in his removal from office. The panel also barred him from holding public office for 10 years and ordered the forfeiture of funds in five accounts that Onnoghen allegedly failed to declare as part of his assets.

The outcome of this appeal could have far-reaching implications for Nigeria’s legal and judicial landscape, particularly concerning the authority and jurisdiction of the CCT in handling cases involving high-profile judicial officers.