The suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, has had his arrest warrant withdrawn by the CCT. Onnoghen arriving at the CCT on Abuja. Photo: Ade Adesomoju The suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, has pleaded not guilty to the six counts of non-declaration of assets at the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja, Punch Metro reports. He was immediately granted bail on self-recognisance by the tribunal following a short oral application by the defence counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN). After the bail was granted, Uche also applied to the tribunal to adjourn to a date after the general elections. The request was granted but a date has yet to be picked as of the time of filing this report. Before the charges were read to him, the suspended CJN’s lead counsel, Uche, applied to the tribunal to withdraw the arrest warrant issued by the CCT against the defendant earlier on Wednesday. Ruling on the application, the tribunal chairman, agreed with the...

Walter Onnoghen The suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, today politely rejected an offer of a seat in the dock made availabe by the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar, on Friday. According to Punch, Umar had expressed a surprise to find Onnoghen still standing minutes after he first asked tribunal officials to give him a seat in the dock. Seeing Onnoghen still standing, Umar wondered if his instruction that the CJN be offered a seat had not been complied with. Realising there was a seat in the dock, Umar faced Onnoghen’s direction smiling and said  “‎My Lord, sit down”. After seeing that Onnoghen was not interested in the offer, Umar raised his voice as he repeated the offer. But Onnoghen said,  “I will use the seat when I need it”. Onnoghen had earlier entered the dock to answer to the charges of non-declaration of charges instituted against him.

The National Judicial Council has set up a five-man panel to investigate the suspended Chief Judge of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Onnoghen over allegations levelled against him. The NJC’s panel will also investigate the acting CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad. The panel is to be headed by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice S.A Akintan, who like other members of the committee, is a member of the council. According to NJC’s Director of Information, Soji Oye, in a statement on Wednesday, the council took the decision after accepting “the result of the preliminary assessment of the petitions” against the duo. He said the council considered the “petitions to be worthy of further investigation and should not be terminated under Rule 17 of the Judicial Discipline Regulations of the Council.” “Consequently, the council constituted a five-member NJC Investigation Committee pursuant to Rule 20(1) of the Judicial Discipline Regulations under the chairmanship of Hon. Mr. Justice o...

Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Mr. Danladi Yakubu Umar The Code of Conduct Tribunal Wednesday has ordered the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Department of State Security Service to arrest the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen. Onnoghen was absent again when the tribunal, where he is facing trial over allegations of non-declaration of assets, resumed on Wednesday. Buhari in January suspended Onnoghen and replaced him with the Supreme Court’s second-ranking judge, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, in an acting capacity. The president said he acted on the order of the Conduct Tribunal. The suspension was roundly criticized by opposition leaders and the legal community, while the U.S. and European Union said it could undermine the February 16 poll. The main opposition People’s Democratic Party said it was “an act of dictatorship.” The three judges at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, headed by Danladi Umar, orde...

The  Federal High Court in Abuja has restrained the President,  Attorney General of the Federation and Nigerian Financial Intelligence from freezing the bank accounts of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen. Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu granted the order while ruling on a motion ex parte instituted by the Legal Defence and Assistance Project Ltd/GTE. The AGF  last month wrote a letter to the NFIU asking the unit to “restrict normal banking operations on certain accounts belonging to Onnoghen”. The AGF said the order was in line with Executive Order 06 on the preservation of assets connected with corruption. On February 8, 2019, however, Justice Ojukwu ruled that the AGF must obtain a court order before freezing the accounts. The court ruled,  “That the AGF shall obtain an order of court (ex parte) before freezing the accounts of Justice Onnoghen Walter Nkanu Samuel (in respect of exhibit 8) in compliance with the law if it was not ...

Walter Onnoghen It is more trouble for the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, as the National Judicial Council, NJC, on Monday, ordered him to respond to a fresh petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, lodged against him, Vanguard has reported. The suspended CJN was handed seven days to respond to allegations the EFCC raised against him. The Council, which took the decision at the end of its emergency meeting in Abuja, further constituted a Preliminary Complaints Assessment Committee, to consider responses to both Onnoghen and the Acting CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad, to various petitions against them. Buhari assents to Competition and Consumer Protection Bill The NJC said it would reconvene on Wednesday to take a final decision on the fate of Justices Onnoghen and Muhammad. More details soon.

Says ‘huge deposits’ were from Agric, forex, estacodes .As NJC reconvenes Monday to decide petitions against him, Ag. CJN By Ikechukwu Nnochiri The National Judicial Council, NJC, will Monday, reconvene to determine the appropriate action it would take with respect to corruption allegations against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen. Suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen The Council, had on January 29, directed Justice Onnoghen who was suspended from office on January 25 by President Muhammadu Buhari, to within seven days, respond to a petition that was lodged against him by one Zikhrillahi Ibrahim of Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civil Education. Onnoghen was specifically asked to defend the allegation that he acquired funds and properties, way beyond his legitimate earnings. Similarly, the NJC which is the organ of the judiciary responsible for the Appointment, Promotion, and Discip...

  Walter Onnoghen The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday seized the international passport of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN), Mr. Joe Agi, who is being investigated for allegedly paying $30,000 into a domiciliary account of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen. The passport seizure is aimed at ensuring that he does not leave the country until the conclusion of his case. Although Agi was granted bail yesterday by the EFCC, he has another date with the agency on Monday for further interrogation, The Nation gathered. Yesterday, detectives continued their scrutiny of the lawyer’s bank accounts and some documents retrieved from his residence when a search warrant was executed. The EFCC is also on the trail of a vital suspect said to have questions to answer in respect of the payments into Onnoghen’s accounts. The suspect’s name is being kept secret for security reasons. A reliable source who confirmed Agi’s passport seizur...

Ado-Ekiti-A Chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, Senator  Ayo Arise, has said the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen could have saved himself and the nation from unnecessary embarrassment, tow the line of honour and resign Justice Onnoghenghen Arise expressed reservations on the stance of the Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC) in the whole saga, saying that the system of government that is being operated in Nigeria only recognizes the supreme court as the final arbiter in any case. Speaking with newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, shortly after the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Ado-Ekiti, Arise described the suspended  CJN’s saga as an embarrassment not only to the judiciary but to the country as a whole. Arise, who represented Ekiti North Senatorial District in the Senate, between 2007 – 2011, also noted that Nigeria could take advantage of the controversy and make a correction on some weaknesses in the Constitution. He posited that th...

The Coalition of United Political Parties CUPP says it has uncovered plans by the EFCC to arrest the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen today Wednesday February 6th. Onnoghen was suspended on Janaury 25th by President Buhari over his non-declaration of all his assets. Justice Onnoghen who assumed office in March 2017, has refused calls to resign from office despite attributing his non-declaration of assets to forgetfullness.  In a statement signed by its National spokesperson, Imo Ugochinyere, CUPP said Onnoghen will be forced to resign after his arrest. “The secretariat of the CUPP has uncovered the latest plot by the Presidency to arrest the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter  Onnoghen tomorrow (Wednesday) being February 6, 2019 and immediately commence their final descent to infamy by forcing him to resign at gunpoint. “The latest recruit in this plot against the CJN being the Chairman of the E...

Bola Tinubu National leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Bola Tinubu on Tuesday described the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) by President Muhammadu Buhari as an eminently fair and balanced approach to the matter. Tinubu said this on Tuesday in a letter entitled: ‘ Reply to Atiku’s State of the Nation’,  made available to newsmen in Lagos. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, condemned the suspension of the CJN, Walter Onnoghen by President Buhari. Atiku described the decision as  “a breach of the constitution”. Tinubu’s letter read in part:  ”Strange that Atiku would choose to depict the current situation so inaccurately as to stir emotions unduly. He claim that CJN Onnoghen has been removed. ”However, this is not so. He has been temporarily suspended. Atiku and his advisors should know and recognise the vast legal difference between “suspension” and “removal.” ”Yet y...

Femi Fani-Kayode A former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode might be in trouble after he was caught red-handed spreading fake news. This comes after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission released a statement accusing him of spreading falsehood about the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.  Recall that Kayode had alleged that operatives of the commission went and surrounded the house of Onnoghen. The Commission said it was not only a figment of the imagination of the purveyor of the fake news, but an evil machination by the creator and carriers of the news aimed at creating anarchy in the country. In a reaction to the purported fake news the Commission said,  “For the record, the EFCC never went to the house of the CJN for arrest neither was invitation extended to him.” “Several calls and short messages received all point to the fact that the brains behind the fake news had one thing in mind: to act as agent of destabilization. We wo...