Justice Onnoghen Appeals CCT Judgment

By Abdullateef Jos

Suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen has rejected the ruling of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) which convicted him of six counts of false declaration of assets preferred against him by the Federal Government.

Justice Walter Onnoghen immediately after the judgment, on Thursday filed a notice of appeal at the Abuja division of Court of Appeal  challenging the ruling of the Tribunal.

In the notice, Part of it read, “Take notice that the appellant herein, Justice Onnoghen Nkanu Walter Samuel being dissatisfied with the rulings/judgment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Coram Danladi Umar (Chairman), William Atedze (Member I) and Julie A Anakor (Member II) delivered on the 18th of April, 2019, wherein it ruled on the application challenging its jurisdiction and to recuse itself from the proceedings as well the judgment on the substantive matter against the appellant, do hereby appeal upon the grounds set out in paragraph 3 hereof and will at the hearing of the appeal, seek the reliefs and orders set out in paragraph 4.”

Also in  the filed appeal document, in one of the 16 grounds, Justice Walter Onnoghen said the CCT erred in law when it dismissed his application challenging its jurisdiction and thus, occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice.

The suspended CJN, however, sought an order of the appeal court allowing his appeal and that the CCT lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the case.

Justice Walter Onnoghen similarly asked the court to set aside his conviction as well as discharge and acquit him, among other prayers.

The CCT had earlier on Thursday  convicted Justice Onnoghen and removed him from office as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), as well as  banned him from holding public office for the next 10 years and ordered the judge to forfeit all five accounts said not to have been declared by him between 2009 and 2015.

Justice Walter Onnoghen in the appeal sued Federal Government of Nigeria as respondent