CCT Reserves Judgment On Onnoghen’s Applications

Court Ruling Stalls Judgement On Onnoghen’s Applications

The Code of Conduct Tribunal has reserved ruling on two applications by suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Walter Onnoghen to the day of its final judgment on his case.

In the first application, Justice Onnoghen asked the CCT to quash the six-count charge against him and allow the National Judicial Council (NJC) to deal with the issue.

In his second application, Onnoghen asked the Chairman of the Tribunal, Danladi Umar, and another member of the Tribunal to recuse themselves from his trial on the alleged likelihood of bias, Naija News reports.

However, Chairman of the Tribunal, Danladi Umar in his ruling, ordered that ruling on the two applications would be delivered alongside the final judgment.

Umar, who said the tribunal is determined to hear the case expeditiously, relied on the provisions of section 296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015 which permits rulings on interlocutory objections to be given alongside the final judgment.

The Federal Government had in the charge marked CCT/ABJ/01/2019 alleged that Onnoghen failed to declare his assets as prescribed by law, and that he had maintained undisclosed foreign bank accounts.