Tag: Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen

Nigeria: FG Woefully Fails to Prove Its Case Against CJN Walter Onnoghen

21Mar

By admin14 Comments

Corruption, Judiciary, Justice, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: FG Woefully Fails to Prove Its Case Against CJN Walter Onnoghen

The Federal Government, on Thursday, closed its case against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, after it produced only three witnesses that testified before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT. Though FG initially expressed its intention to produce a total of six witnesses to substantiate all the allegations it levelled against the embattled CJN, however, shortly after the third witness was discharged, the prosecution counsel told the tribunal that it would be unnecessary to call further witnesses. The prosecution counsel, Mr. Aliyu Umar, SAN, told the tribunal that the defendant was at liberty to summon any of the listed but uncalled witnesses to testify on his behalf if he so wished. He was immediately overruled by the CCT Chairman, Mr. Danladi U...

Nigeria: Chief Justice Onnoghen Fails to Appear before the CCT

14Jan

By adminNo Comments

Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Chief Justice Onnoghen Fails to Appear before the CCT

We are not just challenging jurisdiction, we are even challenging the jurisdiction of this tribunal to even snif that charge - Olanipekun (SAN) The Chief Justice of Nigeria, on Monday, failed to appear before the tribunal to be docked to enable him to take his plea to the six-count criminal charge against him. At exactly 10am when the charge marked CCT/ABJ/01/19, was called up, Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar, demanded to know why the CJN was not in court and if he was served with the charge. The prosecution counsel, Umar, SAN, who led five other lawyers, told the court that the CJN was served through one of his personal assistants. “When we went to his house, he directed his personal assistant to collect the charge on his behalf. His personal assistant endorsed it, s...

Nigeria: Code of Conduct Tribunal Cannot Try Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen

14Jan

By admin1 Comment

Corruption, Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Code of Conduct Tribunal Cannot Try Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen

In a reaction from legal practitioners, it is becoming clear that the Code of Conduct Tribunal has no jurisdiction to try the Chief Justice of the Federation. In a post published by a lawyer, the reason for this was explained. The post reads: "Serving judges can’t be tried by cct by virtue of the judgment of the court of appeal in respect of the case of Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, the chief justice of Nigeria and in fact, any serving judicial officer judge, cannot be tried by the code of conduct tribunal or even court, until the national judicial council, NJC would have dealth with the matter. Though, the matter is still on appeal at the supreme court, the judgment still stands. As a matter of fact, based on that judgment, the code of conduct tribunal had to discontinue the trial of...

Opinion: Justice Onnoghen and The Rising Fascism in Nigeria by Achike Chude

14Jan

By adminNo Comments

Corruption, Justice, News, Nigeria

Opinion: Justice Onnoghen and The Rising Fascism in Nigeria by Achike Chude

In any society that predominantly seeks excellence, it should be standard practice that every infraction, especially those by public officials is investigated. It is therefore expected that every action carried out by government towards sanitizing the polity should be upheld and applauded by the public because everybody ultimately benefits. This should naturally be our disposition over this Onnoghen matter - to support the action of the federal government to bring Onnoghen to book if he is culpable. This would be especially so if this government is all about probity, accountability, transparency and integrity. But this is a government that provides accommodation and refuge to Obanikoro, Orji Kalu, Akpabio, Tinubu, Oshiomole, etc. This is a government that accommodated Maina and the suspend...

Nigeria: The Charge and Planned Arraignment of the Hon. Chief Justice Onoghen

13Jan

By adminNo Comments

Corruption, Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: The Charge and Planned Arraignment of the Hon. Chief Justice Onoghen

Our attention has been drawn to the trending news that the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onoghen has been charged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, based on a petition submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau on Wednesday the 9th of January, 2019, and is to be arraigned before the Tribunal on Monday , the 14th January, 2019. The prosecutorial decision that has been taken by the Executive Branch of Government ( FGN / FRN) is a very grave one. It is unprecedented in the political history of Nigeria. Let us go down memory lane. During the blistering General Murtala Muhammed Military Regime, in 1975, there were massive purges in the Judiciary as well as in the public service. Many public servants were removed “ with immediate effect” . During the purges , a sitting Chief Justice...