Onnoghen closes defence at CCT

Suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, has ended his defence in his ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

Onnoghen is facing charges of false and non-declaration of assets.

Onnoghen’s lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo, had only on Monday said “two or three witnesses” would be called to testify in Onnoghen’s defence.

One of such witnesses, a director at the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Theresa Nwafor, was then issued a subpoena to appear on Wednesday to testify as the second defence witness after Onnoghen’s driver testified as the first.

But when a defence counsel, Chris Uche, rose on Wednesday to announce closure of the defendant’s case, he made no mention of Mrs Nwafor or any other witness.

He said: “My lords, today is for continuation of trial. But my lords, after a deep review of the evidence led by the prosecution and the defence, the defence has come to conclusion and we have closed our case.

“Pursuarnt to paragraph 14 of the Practice Direction of this honourable tribunal, we apply to file our final written addresses.”

Mr Uche pleaded for 14 days to file the final written address and exchange with the prosecution led by Aliyu Umar.

A date would be fixed for judgement after adoption of the final addresses.