Justice Walter Onnoghen, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, is set to resume his fight in the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday. This ongoing legal struggle stems from his removal from office back in 2019, following a controversial judgment by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
Justice Onnoghen, who was once at the helm of the Nigerian judiciary, has been challenging the decision made by the CCT for years. His appeal, which was initially filed in 2019, requests the Court of Appeal to overturn the tribunal’s judgment, which was delivered on April 18, 2019.
In this case, Onnoghen’s legal team, led by senior lawyer Adegboyega Awomolo, is arguing that the CCT’s ruling should be nullified. Their main arguments center around accusations of bias, a lack of fair hearing, and the tribunal’s jurisdiction. According to them, Justice Onnoghen was not given a fair shot at defending himself in the case, making the conviction and the consequences that followed unjust.
The origin of this legal saga can be traced to 2019 when the CCT found Justice Onnoghen guilty of failing to comply with the Code of Conduct for public officers. The federal government had brought six charges against him, all of which the tribunal upheld. As a result, the then-Chief Justice was convicted on all counts.
The consequences of this ruling were severe. In a decision led by the CCT Chairman, Danladi Yakubu Umar, Justice Onnoghen was not only removed from his position as the Chief Justice of Nigeria but was also stripped of all the prestigious offices he once held. These included chairmanship roles in both the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Federal Judicial Service Commission.
But that wasn’t all. The tribunal went further, ordering that five of Onnoghen’s bank accounts be forfeited, including the money in them. The CCT ruled that Justice Onnoghen had failed to declare these assets when submitting his declaration forms to the Code of Conduct Bureau, a federal agency responsible for overseeing public officers’ conduct.
As the case resumes in court, Justice Onnoghen is hoping to finally clear his name and overturn the rulings that have dogged his post-career years. The outcome of this appeal will likely be a major milestone in this ongoing legal drama, which continues to be closely watched across the nation.
