Walter Onnoghen: New Counsel Seeks Adjournment, Cites Lack of Proper Briefing

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has adjourned and also granted an accelerated hearing on the suit filed by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, challenging the order by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, which led to the Federal Government removing him from office in 2019, to September 19, 2024, for further hearing.

The Appellate Court granted Onnoghen’s prayers following the inability of the matter to go on, after the Counsel representing the Attorney-General of the Federation, Tijjani Gazalli, SAN, told the Court that he is yet to be properly briefed on the matter. Gazalli said since the death of the Counsel Aliyu Umar, who was in the matter before, no one had taken over the matter until now. The Senior Counsel further informed the court that he had called for the case file, and had got a response that he would be granted access. He therefore, asked the Appeal Court for an adjournment to enable him to get and go through the case file, for proper preparation on the matter.

Although Onnoghen’s Counsel, Chris Uche, SAN did not oppose the submission, he however, moved for his application for an accelerated hearing to be taken, while withdrawing another application for the appeal to be heard on the Appellant’s brief alone.

In the suit that was filed in 2019 at the Court of Appeal, Onnoghen is praying the Court to void and set aside the CCT judgement delivered against him, asking the Appellate Court to quash his conviction primarily on grounds of want of jurisdiction, bias, and absence of fair hearing.

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), had in 2019, convicted Onnoghen in all the 6-count charges of breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers brought against him by the Federal Government while in office as CJN.