Appeal Court to commence hearing former CJN Walter Onnoghen’s suit challenging removal after 5 years

Justice Walter Onnoghen

The Court of Appeal has fixed Tuesday, August 20 to hear a suit filed by former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, challenging the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) order that removed him from office in 2019.

Onnoghen filed the appeal since 2019.

In his appeal, Onnoghen, through his lead counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, is asking the appellate court to quash his conviction primarily on ground of want of jurisdiction, bias and absence of fair hearing.

In 2019, the CCT convicted Onnoghen in all the six-count charges of breach of Code of Conduct for Public Officers brought against him by the Federal Government while in office as CJN.

The Tribunal also stripped him of all offices earlier occupied among which were the chairman of the National Judicial Council and also the chairmanship of the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

The tribunal also ordered the forfeiture of his five bank accounts and the money in the accounts which Onnoghen did not declare in his asset declaration form submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), an agency of the Federal Government.