Suspended Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, has alleged that the Court of Appeal has been
ordered to stay away from giving judgement in the appeals filed by Onnoghen.
Onnoghen also expressed concern
that while political and election matters were treated with dispatch, the Court
of Appeal had not been able to give judgment in the appeals filed by Onnoghen
six weeks after they were heard.
The embattled Chief Justice, in a
press statement by his lead counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, yesterday stated
that most Nigerian public officers and judges were seen as accused as he is.
He warned that nobody knew who
would be the next after the precedent already laid with his trial.
The statement reads, “Whereas
political matters and election matters were treated with dispatch, and judgment
delivered within hours, the appeal of Chief Justice of Nigeria, six weeks after
argument was ordered to be kept away in the file.
“There is no association of
Nigerian judges to speak a word.
“Let no public officer or
judicial officer at any level, throw stones because if not all, most are guilty
as Onnoghen.
“Nobody knows who is next, a
precedent has been laid.
“The honourable Attorney-General
of the Federation seems pleased.”
Continuing, Awomolo said his
client’s ongoing trial had exposed the Nigerian judiciary to be a weak
institution, just as he expressed worry that the Nigerian Bar Association “has
by reason of personal leadership ambition been rendered ineffective, divided
and weak”.
He also lamented that the framers
of the Nigerian Constitution, “omitted to give sufficient attention to the need
for the Code of Conduct Tribunal to secure its independence, impartiality and
non-interference”.
According to him, if the head of
the judiciary will be treated the way Onnoghen was treated, the CCT trial had
shown that the judiciary was not independent and the security of tenure of
judicial officers is merely wishful thinking.
“The third lesson is that the
case has clearly shown that Nigerian judiciary is very weak, vulnerable and not
independent”, he said.
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