The Code of Conduct Tribunal on Tuesday rejected the Federal High Court, Abuja, and National Industrial Court of Nigeria’s orders stopping the trial of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.

Onnoghen is facing trial for alleged false declaration of assets.

The CCT also held that the courts were of coordinate jurisdiction with the tribunal and so lacked powers to direct or supervise its proceedings.

The CCT Chairman, Danladi Umar, said these while rejecting a motion by Onnoghen asking the tribunal to adjourn indefinitely based on the High Court and the NICN’s orders that the parties must maintain the status quo.

He gave the ruling in a split decision of two to one. While Justice William Atedze gave the dissenting judgement, Justice Julie Anabor agreed with the tribunal chairman.

Meanwhile, Onnoghen was again absent from the hearing on Tuesday. It was reported that the CJN would again be absent from the hearing.

Justice Umar rejected the submission by the Defence Counsel led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) that the tribunal should adjourn indefinitely based on the orders of the Federal High Court, Abuja, and the NICN which ordered the parties to maintain the status quo pending hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

Olanipekun also argued that the tribunal should adjourn because the matter was already before the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

But noting that the Court of Appeal had yet to issue any order, the CCT chair agreed with the complainant’s counsel, Aliyu Umar (SAN), that the judgement cited were from courts of equal status with the tribunal as court of superior record.

Justice Umar said, “This is because the tribunal is established by the constitution under the third schedule to adjudicate on matters of asset declaration.

“Therefore any order from any court directing it not to carry out its duty is in crystal violation of the constitution.”

Justice Umar said an appeal from the tribunal could only go to the Court of Appeal.

The tribunal adjourned sitting till January 28 for hearing of Onnoghen’s preliminary objection where he is challenging the jurisdiction of the court.

While the sitting was on, a group — National Interest Defenders and Lawyers in Defence of Democracy — stormed the tribunal to protest against the CJN’s trial .

The groups carried placards of various inscriptions including, “APC wants to destroy our Supreme Court”, “Buhari wants judges to join APC” and “Nobody can force Onnoghen out.”

Spokesman for the group, Ikenga Ugochinyere, advised President Muhammadu Buhari against removing the CJN, saying that could cause tension in the country.

He said, “The President wants to install a pliable Justice to help the APC get favourable judgements from the Supreme Court in the Rivers and Zamfara APC crisis, in the presidential election and in the states where they are afraid they will lose elections. The states include Akwa Ibom, Delta, Lagos, Benue, Imo, Kwara, Plateau, Kaduna, Abia and Sokoto.”


https://www.legit.ng/amp/1217036-just-cct-adjourns-hearing-onnoghens-false-asset-declaration-monday-january-28.html

Ok

Justice should run its course. The accused should defend the charges and stop looking for frivolous injunction to hide under.

And protesting lawyers led by one Ugochinyere are the ones being political and insinuating Onnoghen is perhaps working for PDP, the more reason he can't remain the CJN.

CCT chair has outstanding EFCC cases, it's been held against him to force him to do the FG's bidding without recourse to due process.

The judiciary has been called the last hope of Nigerians.

Una better get una act together if not any little respect you got is out the window

Dasuki is a strong PDP member, prosecute one northern Muslim who is APC member , then I will believe you are not bias , buratai has been accused of corruption buying house in Dubai by Sahara reporters, Snake swallowed jamb money, your all spent millions to cut grass, Ganduje video evidence is enough to kick him off, if nothing stopped you from trying Dino, nothing should stop you from trying them

"National interest supercedes the rule of law" only in cases where Buhari/APC interests are being threatened.Otherwise they continue to spurn the rule of law, our courts and constitutional provisions with utter impunity.

Even the decisions of the ECOWAS are never obeyed. Very lawless government because a despot and tyrannt is a president in a democratic setting.

Hello Sir, it's your turn...

Rejecting a court order is sign of the height of lawlessness experience in this country.
The police have join the trend.
Very shameful.

Emma45667:
See prove below

too early for this jargons you are posting

The trial won't still hold water.

CJN CORRUPTION SAGA RAVES ON
Interesting times are here. A civil servant, who has no other business. Has not touched his salary for years. He has forgotten $3m in account. Bought 55 houses. Feed and pay school fees for his dependents. Then someone is arguing with me about money rituals. It is real. God dey. I told you if CJN does not go quietly, he will pull the roof down on our justice system. The Body of Benchers, the NBA and COBAN, should plead with him to have mercy on them. AGF Malami is bent on opening books. What I see from here is not good for the sight. Believe me, those black coats and suits are about to go darker.

........................ ............................. ........................



CJN, LAWYERS AND US, Fiery lawyer Bar Alobo Joshua
People's Court:Opinion A Chief Justice That Has Always Lived Above His Means And Now, Nemesis By Annie Orji The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen is facing the battle of his political carreer. He was one of the judges indicted for corruption and recommended for dismissal by the the Justice Kayode Eso Panel set up by the Sani Abacha military regime to probe incessant allegations of judicial corruption in 1994. Justice Onnoghen was then a judge in the Cross River State high court where he was accused of selling justice to the highest bidder. Luckily for Justice Onnoghen he had been promoted to the Court of Appeal when the implementation of the recommendation of the Eso Panel was carried out against only judges of high courts across the country. As the leopard never changes its colour Justice Onnoghen has continued with corrupt practices. The judge has not been able to account for the millions of Naira, Pounds Sterling, Dollars and Euros in his bank accounts. The money is so much for a serving judge that Justice Onnoghen did not declare some of his bank accounts as required by law. Hence, the Chief Justice was charged with failure to false declaration and failure to declare his assets containing hundreds of over $3 million of dollars before the Code of Conduct Tribunal last week. It has also been alleged that for 18 months the Chief Justice did not withdraw from his salary account, suggesting that he was spending bribe money. Although the petition was received by the Code of Conduct from an ex aide of President Buhari on January 9, 2019. A team of officials from the Code of Conduct Bureau visited the Chief Justice on January 10. When confronted with the fact that he did not declare his assets as stipulated as stipulated by the Constitution the Chief Justice said that he "forgot" to have done so. He therefore pleaded for the "understanding and cooperation" of the Code of Conduct Bureau officials. The official promised to cooperate but asked the Chief Justice to write a statement under caution. He did so in his own handwriting where he admitted that he "forgot" to declare his assets. Based on the admission by the Chief Justice that he did not declare his assets the Bureau quickly prepared a charge and filed it before the Code of Conduct Tribunal on January 11. The Tribunal fixed the case for the arraignment of the Chief Justice for January 15. To avoid the disgrace of being arraigned at the Tribunal the Chief Justice was advised to stay away from the proceedings of the Tribunal which he did. In a counter move, the legal team of the Chief Justice informed the Tribunal that their client had not been served with the charge sheet. The case was adjourned to January 22 for hearing after which proper service would have been effected on the Chief Justice. Meanwhile, a case filed on Monday, January 15 at the federal high court to stop the trial of the Chief Justice through two NGOs were assigned to a judge, Justice N. E. Maha, a newly appointed judge in the court. We have confirmed that Justice Maha is very close to the Chief Justice as a former staff in the office of the Legal Practioners Privileges Committee located in the Supreme Court complex in Abuja. The Committee is headed by the Chief Justice. Within minutes of receiving the file of the new suit it was heard by Justice Maha who quickly granted a motion ex parte in the case. The judge restrained the Code of Conduct Tribunal from proceeding to hear the charge against the Chief Justice until the hearing of the motion on notice. Not sure that the order of Justice Maha was sufficient to shield him from prosecution before the Code of Conduct Tribunal the Chief Justice planned another strategy. He held a meeting with Justice Babatunde Adejumo, the President of the National Industrial Court whose wife, Justice Abimbola Adejumo had delivered the judgment in the case of Nganjiwa v Federal Republic of Nigeria which ruled that all corruption cases involving judges should be reported to the National Judicial Council which is headed by the Chief Justice. The judgment was delivered to prevent the arrest and prosecution of judges as was witnessed in 2016 when about 10 judges were arrested and charged to court for corruption. At the end of the meeting which held in Abuja last Sunday the embattled Chief Justice asked Justice Adejumo to get an order to prevent his arrest by the police, efcc or icpc. A case was filed the following day at the National Industrial Court . It was hurriedly assigned to Justice Sanusi Kano by Justice Adejumo. The case was heard by Justice who granted an order restraining the Police from arresting the Chief Justice pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. The judge also stopped the trial of the Chief Justice by the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Lawyers and judges are asking if the Chief Justice has become an employee to have his case decided at the National Industrial Court established to hear only trade union and labour matters. In a desperate move to save Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen from prosecution and compulsory retirement the Body of SenIor Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) had called an emergency meeting of Senior Advocates of Nigeria to hold at the Lagos campus of the Nigerian Law School at 11 am on Saturday, 19th day of January 2019. But the communique of the meeting was prepared in advance and surreptitiously passed to the secretariat of the body for adoption at the meeting. The meeting was poorly attended by senior advocates. But the few members of the body who attended the meeting kicked against the move to use the BOSAN to condemn the trial of the Chief Justice whose conduct was criticised at the meeting by many senior advocates. It was the view of the majority of those who attended the meeting that while the procedure adopted by the Executive in charging the Chief Justice before the Code of Conduct Tribunal is procedurally wrong they wondered when forgetfulness became a defence to a criminal offence in Nigeria. The suggestion that the N1.4 billion money laundering charge filed against the NBA president, Mr. Paul Usoro SAN by the efcc be tabled for discussion was unanimously rejected by members of BOSAN. It was a very somber meeting as members expressed concern over the damage being done to the reputation of the legal profession by senior judges and lawyers. In order not to be accused of covering the Chief Justice who cannot explain the sources of the local and foreign currencies in his declared and undeclared bank accounts the BOSAN dropped the prepared communique and issued another one which tactically called for caution by all the parties concerned. The communique was signed by Professor Ben Nwabueze SAN and Seyi Sowemimo SAN, the Chairman and Secretary respectively of BOSAN. Even though the federal government has denied the reported plan to arrest the Chief Justice, the National Financial Intelligence Unit has frozen his accounts under the Presidential Executive Order No 6 of 2018. An application has already been filed in court to have the Chief Justice removed from office since he has ignored the call of the federal government to call it quits.

Interesting

I thought that buhari is not aware according to osibanjo, that the case will be discontinued? Osibanjo is a fool. They are just using him. At the appropriate time, they will dump him.

When a CJN who should be the chief custodian of the law is abusing court processes, then you know Nigeria is not ready.

The CJN knows this case goes from CCT > Court of Appeal > Supreme Court. Yet he ran to a Federal High Court to stop this case

The Federal High Court is on the same level as the CCT and also has no jurisdiction whatsoever on cases of asset declaration - Supreme Court ruling led by Onnoghen himself.

islandmoon:
prosecute in northern Muslim , then I will believe you are not bias , buratai has been accused of corruption buying house in Dubai by Sahara reporters, Snake swallowed jamb money, your all spent millions to cut grass, Ganduje video evidence is enough to kick him off, if nothing stopped you from trying Dino, nothing should stop you from trying them

All these ones no concern Bubu... The CJN is a threat to his Next level devil moves.

islandmoon:
prosecute in northern Muslim , then I will believe you are not bias , buratai has been accused of corruption buying house in Dubai by Sahara reporters, Snake swallowed jamb money, your all spent millions to cut grass, Ganduje video evidence is enough to kick him off, if nothing stopped you from trying Dino, nothing should stop you from trying them

Is Dasuki not a northern moslem

donttouchme:
I thought that buhari is not aware according to osibanjo, that the case will be discontinued? Osibanjo is a fool. They are just using him. At the appropriate time, they will dump him.

Osibanjo AKA,, Ossy,, Is the next devil face of Nigeria.

raumdeuter:

Is Dasuki not a northern moslem

It's easier for Buhari to forgive onnoghen than for him to forgive Dasuki.

It has gone beyond the stage of asking whether Onnoghen is right or wrong,rather it's a matter of everyone protecting their own/son,since Buhari's fight against corruption is nauseatingly selective. Had it been Mr president is truly sincere and holistic in his so called corruption fight,i and every other sane Nigerians wouldn't have blinked an eye about the CJN prosecution regardless of the timing, but Buhari's antecedents makes it practically impossible for any sane mind to consider the substance of the CJN accusations,courtesy of his ulterior motive to replace him, Walter, with a Northerner,in furtherance of his nepotistic course. With that being said, #we stand with Onnoghen,regardless of our political affiliation, after all, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Onnoghen should know at this point that he can no longer hide behind one finger. He’s the Chief Justice of Nigeria and he needs to respect the law of the country. He should appear before the CCT and defend himself instead of running from one court to the order to stop his trial. All men of good conscience must also start telling him the truth. He cannot continue to drag the judiciary in the mud just because of his personal problem. He should take the honorable path by appearing before the tribunal and then recusing himself from all Supreme Court and NJC proceedings till his case is decided.

raumdeuter:


Is Dasuki not a northern moslem

One out of hundreds

seunmsg:
Onnoghen should know at this point that he can no longer hide behind one finger. He’s the Chief Justice of Nigeria and he needs to respect the law of the country. He should appear before the CCT and defend himself instead of running from one court to the order to stop his trial. All men of good conscience must also start telling him the truth. He cannot continue to drag the judiciary in the mud just because of his personal problem. He should take the honorable path by appearing before the tribunal and then recusing himself from all Supreme Court and NJC proceedings till his case is decided.

Lol bros i thought you were boasting he will be arrested yesterday? Your eyes don't clear baa?

Well to cut your fantasy short.The CJN will never appear before any kangaroo tribunal.

He will also not resign as the CJN but will remain to constitute the election tribunals and the Rivers APC case.

Before monday he will secure another court order from either the appeal or supreme court halting the CCT trial

The CCB must follow due process by referring the case to the NJC

.

islandmoon:
prosecute in northern Muslim , then I will believe you are not bias , buratai has been accused of corruption buying house in Dubai by Sahara reporters, Snake swallowed jamb money, your all spent millions to cut grass, Ganduje video evidence is enough to kick him off, if nothing stopped you from trying Dino, nothing should stop you from trying them

dasuki must be ibibio then

donttouchme:
I thought that buhari is not aware according to osibanjo, that the case will be discontinued? Osibanjo is a fool. They are just using him. At the appropriate time, they will dump him.

so how is that ur headache? y are u crying on his behalf? is it ur dumping? let them dump him. face front

netpro:
Justice should run its course. The accused should defend the charges and stop looking for frivolous injunction to hide under.

And protesting lawyers led by one Ugochinyere are the ones being political and insinuating Onnoghen is perhaps working for PDP, the more reason he can't remain the CJN.

When the court barred the Kano State HOA from investigating corrupt practices preferred against Gandollar, where were u?

Are you insinuating that the court that stopped Ganduje's investigation lacked jurisdiction?

The thing with Africans is that they will rather pull down the whole system rather than step aside for due process.

The Appeal Court judgement Ononghe's supporters were using as his defense was delivered based on the facts that the alleged crime was committed in the line of duty.
This, however has to do with Ononghe's person conduct.

Let's put sentiments aside

Chaiiiiiiiii see Southerner case matter dey fly for court like harmattan fire........ Is it a cause to be one?

hrykanu231:


When the court barred the Kano State HOA from investigating corrupt practices preferred against Gandollar, where were u?

Are you insinuating that the court that stopped Ganduje's investigation lacked jurisdiction?

This motherfucker's should leave the south cjn alone. spit on those motherfucker, spit on CCT, spit on the federal government, spit on those calling for his resignation. spit.