The Chief Justice of Nigeria,
CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, on Monday, challenged the jurisdiction of the
Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, sitting in Abuja, to try him over his alleged
failure to declare his assets.
CJN, who stalled his planned
arraignment following his refusal to appear before the Justice Danladi Umar’s
led three-member panel tribunal, was however represented by a consortium of 89
lawyers that comprised of 46 Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
The legal team, which was led by
a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Chief Wole Olanipekun,
SAN, and a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, told the tribunal that their appearance at the
proceeding was “in protest.”
Olanipekun told the tribunal that
the CJN has already filed a motion dated January 14, to challenge the
jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the charges FG levelled against him.
“My lord, we are not just
challenging jurisdiction, we are even challenging the jurisdiction of this
tribunal to even sniff that charge. We have served the Complainant/Respondent”,
Olanipekun submitted.
Though the said motion was not
moved, nevertheless, a member of the team who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said the CJN would capitalise on FG’s failure to channel the
petition against him, as well as the outcome of the investigation that was
purportedly conducted on his assets declaration forms by the Code of Conduct
Bureau, CCB, to the National Judicial Council, NJC, before it rushed the case to the CCT.
The CJN is contending that FG’s
failure to abide by existing judicial precedent as encapsulated in a recent
Appeal Court’s decision in Nganjiwa v Federal Republic of Nigeria (2017)
LPELR-43391(CA), to the effect that any misconduct attached to the office and
functions of a judicial officer, must first be reported to and handled by the
NJC, pursuant to the provisions of the laws.
He argued that only after the NJC
has pronounced against such judicial officer could prosecuting agencies of the
Federal Government proceed to initiate a criminal proceeding.
Consequently, placing reliance on
a recent decision of the CCT on a similar charge FG lodged against another
Justice of the Supreme Court, Sylvester Ngwuta, the CJN’s legal team, maintained
that FG’s decision to sideline the NJC, stripped the tribunal of its
jurisdiction to entertain the instant case.
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