Breaking: Court restrains FG from removing CJN Onnoghen. A Federal High Court in Abuja has restrained President Muhammadu Buhari and others from removing the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen. Daily Trust reports that Justice Inyang Ekwo on Monday, January 17, ordered the parties to maintain status quo over the moves to remove the CJN.
News gathered that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), had on Friday, January 18, filed an application asking the court to order Justice Onnoghen to step aside as the CJN and the chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and hand over to the next senior judge to avoid creating a vacuum. In related development, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has demanded an end to the trial of Nigeria’s Chief Justice, Walter Onnoghen.
News reports indicate that the NBA made the recent demand in a statement ahead of the scheduled continuation of Onnoghen’s trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Tuesday, January 22. The lawyers’ union asked the federal government to discontinue the trial and “follow the rule of law.”
Onnoghen is facing trial on six counts of alleged false asset declaration. He was charged following a petition by a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dennis Aghanya. In its statement, the NBA argued that only through the Senate can the presidency remove Onnoghen. “Ahead of the scheduled resumption of proceedings at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (“CCT”) tomorrow, 22 January 2019, the Nigerian Bar Association again calls on the Executive Branch of the Federal Government of Nigeria (“FGN”) to discontinue forthwith the prosecution of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN)”, the statement read.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Nigerian government launched a probe into the 13-salary account of the embattled Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen. It was reported that the probe into the salary account of the CJN which would date back to September 2005 is expected to expose alleged questionable deposits made into Onnoghen’s account.
It was also gathered that a fact sheet from the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) which was sent to the Attorney General of the Federation showed that about N100 million was received through the CJN’s salary account with Union Bank Plc between September 2005 and October 2016.
