COURT OF APPEAL DISCHARGES AND ACQUITS FORMER CJN, ONNOGHEN, ORDERS FG TO UNFREEZE HIS ACCOUNTS
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Justice Walter Onnoghen, the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), was cleared and exonerated on Monday by the Court of Appeal in Abuja of the charge that resulted in his dismissal from office in 2019.
Recall that on January 25, 2019, approximately 29 days prior to the presidential election, former President Muhammadu Buhari removed Onnoghen from his position as Chief Justice of the Nation and installed Justice Tanko Muhammad, the next most senior Supreme Court jurist, to assume the role of head of the judiciary.
Just eight hours after announcing his intention to appoint judges to lead election petition tribunals, Onnoghen was suspended.
Both inside and outside of the legal community, former President Buhari’s decision sparked a range of responses. The Nigerian Bar Association, or NBA, called it a coup against the judiciary.
The Federal Government filed a six-count corruption case against Onnoghen, which the Code of Conduct Tribunal, or CCT, ultimately found him guilty of.
He allegedly gave the Code of Conduct Bureau a fraudulent declaration.
A settlement deal between the federal government and the former CJN resulted in his acquittal about six years after his conviction by a three-member Court of Appeal panel headed by Justice Mohammed Bello.
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The former CJN filed three different appeals to contest his removal, conviction, and asset seizure, and President Bola Tinubu, through Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, convinced the appellate court to stop further consideration of the cases.
The appellate court directed FG to immediately unfreeze Onnoghen’s account with StandardChartered Bank Nigeria Limited in accordance with the conditions of the settlement reached on October 24.
More details later……
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