Onnoghen’s Suspension : CCT Resumes Trial As Politics Unsettle Njc

Falana Pleads With  Malami To stop Onnoghen’s Trial At CCT

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has again asked the Federal Government to withdraw the criminal charges filed against Justice Walter Onnoghen at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

Onnoghen: How FG Plans To Destabilize Supreme Court, Court Of Appeal, Others – Wike https://t.co/WRWiwWHYOZ pic.twitter.com/M0QUmiLY30

— Nigeria News (@NaijaNews) February 4, 2019

Naija news learnt that the Senior Advocate of Nigeria made the call in a letter addressed to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on Sunday.

He asked the minister to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse the suspension as it is wrong for a public officer to be removed from office on the basis of an ex parte order granted by any court or tribunal in Nigeria.

The letter read in part, “Since the charge of false declaration of assets was filed against the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal by the Code of Conduct Bureau, I have repeatedly requested you to use your good offices to discontinue the case.

“My request was anchored on the case of Elelu-Habeeb vs the Attorney-General of the Federation & ORS (2012) 40 WRN 1 where the Supreme Court held that by virtue of section 292 of the Constitution of Nigeria, the head of any of the judicial arm of state and federal governments cannot be removed from office without a prior investigation conducted by the National Judicial Council.

The irony of #OnnoghenSuspension is that the judge who gave the order for him to step aside did not step aside when the EFCC filed charges against him through Keyamo who is now the spokesperson for the President who has suspended the CJN for not stepping aside!

Are you there?

— kay (@KayOdeyinde) January 26, 2019

Falana posited that the withdrawal of the case from the Code of Conduct Tribunal would lead to the immediate vacation of the ex parte order relied upon by the president to justify the “illegal suspension” of Onnoghen and the appointment of Justice Tanko Mohammad as acting Chief Justice of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, The trial of Justice Walter Onnoghen will resume today at the code of conduct tribunal. This comes after the court of appeal denied his plea to stop the CCT from proceeding with the case. But lawyers representing the suspended CJN are not backing down… they are set to file another appeal at the court

In the meantime, the Supreme Court has fixed Tuesday for the hearing of the suit filed by the Senate to challenge the suspension of the Justice Walter Onnoghen.

It is expected that the Acting CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad, would not be on the seven-man bench, but he would be the one to pick the seven Justices of the apex court to hear the suit.