Code of Conduct Tribunal Fixes Date For Judgment On Onnoghen’s Trial

Onnoghen

The Nigeria's  Code of Conduct Tribunal headed by  Danladi Umar on Monday (Today) fixed Thursday for its final judgement in the charges of false and non-declaration of assets instituted against Justice Walter Onnoghen, who reportedly resigned as the Chief Justice of Nigeria on April 4.
After the early morning dramas between the members of the prosecution team, the Umar-led three-man bench fixed the date for judgement after the prosecution led by Mr. Aliyu Umar (SAN), and the defence led by Mr. Okon Efut (SAN), adopted their final addresses.

Justice Onnoghen defence team, in their final arguments, maintained that the prosecution failed to prove the six counts beyond reasonable doubt as required by law and urged the tribunal to dismiss the case adding that the statement made by Onnoghen to the Code of Conduct Bureau was not confessional as alleged by the prosecution.

Efut in his words said the charges against Onnoghen, were incompetent and unconstitutional as they were based on the provisions of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and Bureau Act which were in conflict with the relevant provisions of the Constitution. Meanwhile, the prosecution said the defence team was only attempting to redefine what constituted “proof beyond a reasonable doubt”.

Aliyu Umar urged the tribunal to hold that the prosecution indeed proved the case beyond reasonable doubt and “return a guilty verdict”.

Adjourning till Thursday for judgement, the tribunal chairman, said the verdict would be delivered along with two pending rulings on Onnoghen’s applications, one challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the case and another one asking the CCT chairman to disqualify himself from further presiding over the case for being allegedly bias.