False Assets Declaration:Court Acquitts Ex-CJN,Onnoghen 

       Mohammed Shosanya

 A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, led by Justice Abba Mohammed,Monday, discharged and acquitted a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen from his conviction of false assets declaration charges by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

The conviction of Onnoghen on April 18, 2019 and freezing of his bank accounts by the Umar Yakubu Danladi led Tribunal was set aside by the appellate court following the resolution of the issues that led to the trial and conviction.

Justice Mohammed,in a verdict on the terms of settlement adopted  by the Federal Government and Onnoghen, ordered that the bank accounts of the former CJN, frozen since 2019 be unfrozen.

In the terms of settlement of the matter,  it was unanimously agreed by parties that the Code of Conduct Tribunal was wrong in convicting Onnoghen without recourse to the National Judicial Council (NJC) as a body constitutionally empowered to displine judicial officers in Nigeria.

The terms of settlement was endorsed by Onnoghen, two of his lawyers, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) and Dr Ogwu James Onoja (SAN), while the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, (AGF) Prince Lateef  Fagbemi (SAN) signed for the Federal Government.

Onnoghen’s lead counsel, Awomolo announced the terms of settlement dated October 24, 2024, but filed on November 1, and was confirmed by Tijani Gazali (SAN), counsel to the Federal Government.

Justice Mohammed pronounced the settlement terms as the judgment of the court.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari, had in 2019, unceremoniously removed Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria during the pendency of a charge against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

The CCT had in 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.

The lead judgment delivered by Chairman of the CCT, Danladi Yakubu Umar, ordered the immediate removal of Onnoghen from office as the CJN.

The Tribunal also stripped him of all offices earlier occupied among which were the Chairman of the National Judicial Council, (NJC), and  Chairman 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.

Although Onnoghen had been on suspension since January 25, 2019, and had resigned on April 4, the tribunal nonetheless ordered his removal from office as the Chief Justice of Nigeria and also as the chairman of both the National Judicial Council and the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

Dissatisfied with the CCT verdict, Onnoghen on April 29, 2019 approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja with 16 grounds on why his conviction by the Tribunal should be quashed.

The former CJN  prayed the Court of Appeal to void and set aside the CCT judgment delivered against him on April 18, 2019, on various grounds.