The Court of Appeal in Abuja has discharged and acquitted a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen from his conviction of false assets declaration charges by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 removed Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria during the pendency of a charge against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
The conviction of Onnoghen on April 18, 2019, and forfeiture of his bank accounts by the Umar Yakubu Danladi-led tribunal was struck down by the Appellate Court following the resolution of the issues that led to the trial and conviction.
Justice Abba Bello Mohammed in a judgment on the terms of settlement adopted by the federal government and Onnoghen ordered that the bank accounts of Onnoghen frozen since 2019 be unfrozen.
The bank accounts are maintained by the former CJN at the Standard Chartered Bank in the Wuse area of Abuja.
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 resorting to the National Judicial Council, NJC as a body Constitutionally empowered to discipline judicial officers in Nigeria.
The terms of the settlement were 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 Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN signed for the federal government.
Onnoghen’s lead counsel, Awomolo announced the terms of settlement dated October 24 but filed on November 1, and was confirmed by Tijani Gazali SAN who stood for the federal government at Monday’s proceedings.
Justice Abba Bello Mohammed who led a 3-man panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal pronounced the settlement terms as the judgment of the court.
The Code of Conduct Tribunal 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.
In the lead judgment delivered by the Chairman of the CCT, Danladi Yakubu Umar, he had ordered the immediate removal of Onnoghen from office as the CJN.
The Tribunal had also stripped him of all offices earlier occupied among which were the Chairman of the National Judicial Council, NJC, and also the 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.
But dissatisfied with the CCT decision, 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 head of the Nigerian judiciary prayed the Court of Appeal to void and set aside the CCT judgment delivered against him on April 18, 2019, on various grounds.
In his appeal marked CA/ABJ/375 & 376 & 377/2019, Justice Onnoghen through his lead counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, asked the appellate court to quash his conviction primarily on the ground of want of jurisdiction, bias and absence of fair hearing.
Among others, he maintained that the Danladi Umar-led CCT panel erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice against him when it failed to decline jurisdiction to entertain the six-count against him.
He contended that the CCT Chairman, ought to have recused himself from presiding over his trial.
In his seven-point reliefs, Onnoghen applied for an order setting aside his conviction as well as quashing the order for forfeiture of his assets and to discharge and acquit him of all the charges levelled against him.
Contrary to the CCT finding, Onnoghen, said he did not admit the fact of non-declaration of Assets from 2005 as the Justice of the Supreme Court, adding that he only stated that he did not declare in 2009 as required because he forgot.
Onnoghen challenged the order for the confiscation of his assets on the grounds that the assets were legitimately acquired, as against the provisions of paragraph three of section 23 of the CCB Act which only permits the seizure of such assets “if they were acquired by fraud.”
He faulted the failure of the prosecution to present the petitioner, Denis Aghanya, before the tribunal whose petition led to the charges against him.
Onnoghen maintained that all the allegations brought against him “constitute no offence and should therefore not have formed the basis for his conviction”.
In a brief remark, Onnoghen’s lawyers Adegboyega Awomolo and Ogwu James Onoja bot SAN thanked President Tinubu and the Attorney General of the Federation AGF for ensuring the resolution of the issue.
“The decision of the Court of Appeal delivered this morning is historical and very significant. It is significant in that, it restored the dignity, honour and integrity of Honourable Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, past Chief Justice of Nigeria.
“More than these personal gains to His Lordship is the fact that the damage done to the honour, integrity, dignity and Independence of the Judiciary, the 3% arm of government under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, has been rebuilt and restores.
“Two decisions and actions of the Executive Arm of Government between 2016 and 2019 did grave damage to the public perception, integrity and independence of the judiciary.
“The first was the invasion of the homes of judicial officers of the realm, including the justice of the Supreme Court in the early hours of the night, like a common criminal and bandits.
“It was claimed that there were allegations of corruption against the judicial officers. In the end, none of the judges, publicly humiliated, was found guilty of any corruption charges.
“The second was the unconstitutional removal of the Hon Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Head of the Judiciary, an arm of government, in breach of clear provision of the Constitution. The impurity of the Executive has no precedent or justification.
“These two events have resulted in the poor public perception of the Judiciary and low confidence in the integrity and independence of the Judiciary.
“We Thank the Honorable Attorney General of the Federation and the Minster of Justice, Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, SAN for his candour and forthrightness as demonstrated in this appeal.
“Through the Honourable Attorney General, we send our appreciation to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for upholding the spirit and letter of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by affirming the Independence of the Judiciary and respect for the Rule of Law
“The Judiciary remains the foundational structure, the bulwark upon which Nigeria’s Constitutional democracy rests.
“Nigerians must be encouraged to have confidence and trust in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary, in just resolution of disputes brought to the Courts.
“Justice is rooted in confidence and that confidence must not be dislodged by Executive interference with the independence and integrity of the Judiciary.
“It is hoped that never in this Country will the independence, integrity, honour and dignity of the Judiciary be trampled upon as was done before”, they said.
