The Court of Appeal, Abuja on Tuesday adjourned till September 19, the hearing on an appeal by Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen against the judgement of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, that ordered his removal from office in 2019......READ THE FULL STORY>>.....READ THE FULL STORY>>
Onnoghen, who was present in court, in his appeal marked CA/ABJ/375 & 376 & 377/2019, filed through his counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, is asking the appellate court to quash his conviction primarily on ground of want of jurisdiction, bias and and absence of fair hearing.
The Code of Conduct Tribunal had on April 18, 2019, convicted Onnoghen in all the 6-count charges of breach of Code of Conduct for Public Officers brought against him by the federal government while in office as head of the country’s judiciary.
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The appeal had the Federal government listed as sole respondents.
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When the matter came up on Tuesday, Counsel for the former CJN, Chris Uche, SAN, told the court that the Federal government was yet to file a defence against their appeal and asked the court to hear the matter based on their own reliefs.
Representing the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, Tijani Gazali, SAN told the court that he was yet to receive the file on the matter as he was just being briefed about it, but had to appear before the court since the matter had been fixed for today.
Gazali said the Kano based private solicitor, Aliyu Umar, SAN, who was handling the case before died four years ago so he was yet to get the case file to continue with the defence.
Besides, Gazali said the new AGF is looking at the matter from another perspective with a view to working out an amicable resolution of issues in dispute.
He then asked for an adjournment so he can receive and study the case file, then proceed with the case.
Onnoghen’ counsel, Uche informed the Court that some documents were actually served on the AGF office and acknowledged.
The Senior Advocate also applied for an accelerated hearing in the matter as it has taken so long.
Justice C. I. Jombo Ofo, who presided over the matter, granted an accelerated hearing and subsequently fixed September 19 for the hearing of the appeal.
