Appeal Court to deliver judgments today in Onnoghen’s appeals

The Court of Appeal in Abuja will today deliver judgments in four of the many appeals filed by former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.

The court announced this yesterday in the hearing notices it sent to parties in the appeals. The appeals formed part of those filed by Onnoghen against some of the decisions of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in the course of his trial on charges of non-disclosure of assets. The ex-CJN was convicted on April 18 for violating the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.

The CCT ordered his removal from office, barred him from holding public office for 10 years and ordered the forfeiture of funds in his domiciliary accounts with Standard Chartered Bank.

The four appeals were heard on February 27 by a three-man panel, led by Justice Stephen Adah. The panel, after taking arguments from parties on the appeals, said they will be informed when judgments were ready.

Onnoghen is, by his first appeal, challenging the jurisdiction of the CCT to hear the charge against him, being a serving judicial officer.

He is, in the second appeal, querying the propriety of the CCT’s ruling of January 14 in which it elected to hear all pending applications.

The third appeal is against the CCT ex-parte order directing Onnoghen to vacate office as CJN and for President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint an acting CJN.

The fourth appeal challenges the competence of the warrant of arrest issued against the suspended CJN by the CCT.

The arrest warrant, issued on February 13, was vacated by the CCT on February 15 when Onnoghen voluntarily attended the sitting of the CCT, during which he was arraigned.