FOLLOWING the lifting of the order of stay of proceedings by the Court of Appeal, the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has slated Monday to resume the trial of suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen in the six-count charge preferred against him by the federal government.
The federal government has accused Onnoghen of false declaration of assets and maintaining foreign accounts as a justice of the Supreme Court.
He was charged before the Danladi Yakubu Umar led CCT on a six-count charge, but Onnoghen, who was yet to be arraigned for him to take his plea had challenged the charge before the Court of Appeal.
Hearing of his appeal at the appellate court had also been slated for same Monday, February 4, 2019.
A statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by the Head of Press & Public Relations of the CCT, Ibraheem Al-Hassan said the decision to fix Monday to resume trial in Onnoghen’s case followed a correspondent from the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), captioned, “Application for resumption of trial of the case of FRN V. Hon. Justice Onnoghen Nkanu Walter Samuel case No: CCT/ABJ/01/19”, addressed to the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
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The said letter, applying for the resumption of the trial of the case, dated 30th January 2019 was jointly signed by Musa Ibrahim Usman (Esq) and Fatima Danjuma Ali (Esq).
The letter reads in part; “The above subject refers. This case came up for the hearing of a preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the Tribunal on the 28th of January, 2019 but the Tribunal could not proceed due to the pendency of the case at the Court of Appeal.
“However, in the wake of this afternoon, 30th January 2019 the Court of Appeal has thrown out the appeal.
“Consequently on the above, we urge the Honourable Tribunal to give us a date for resumption of the trial subject to the convenience of the Tribunal, Most obliged my Lord,” the statement added.
and then