The court of appeal has ordered the Code of Conduct Tribunal
(CCT) to stay proceedings in the case against Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of
Nigeria (CJN).
A panel of the Abuja division of the appeal court led by
Abdul Aboki directed the tribunal to stay proceedings pending the hearing and
determination of the CJN’s application.
Wole Olanipekun, Onnoghen’s counsel, had told the court that
the CCT had vowed not to comply with orders from other courts which it
described as court of coordinate jurisdiction except that of the court of
appeal.
He, however, emphasised on the issue of jurisdiction raised
before the CCT, which according to him was ignored.
Olanipekun argued that if the application is not granted it
would affect the judiciary in totality and also pose a threat to the country
and the constitution.
Opposing Olanipekun, Oye Koleosho, counsel to the federal
government, said the decision on whether to stay proceedings at the tribunal is
at the discretion of the tribunal.
He drew the court’s attention to the fact that the lower
tribunal adjourned the hearing of the application challenging its jurisdiction.
The three-man panel led by Aboki fixed January 30 to decide
whether the tribunal has jurisdiction to hear the case against the CJN.
The CJN has been accused of false assets declaration, an
allegation he denied. He also failed to appear before the tribunal twice to
answer the charges filed against him.
Although, a high court and an industrial court ordered the
tribunal to stay proceedings, it went on with the case, with the last hearing
being on Tuesday.
“The issues before the two courts are hereby discountenanced
and have no binding effect on the tribunal,” Umar Danladi, judge of the CCT,
had ruled.
The tribunal adjourned the matter till February 4 for
continuation for hearing.
On Tuesday, Aliyu Umar, counsel to the federal government,
had urged the tribunal to give a temporary order asking the CJN to “step
aside.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com