The suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Onnoghen has chosen to employ the instrumentality of the law to get his coveted office back, filing a suit against the federal government over his suspension at the Court of Appeal.
Through his lawyers, Wole Olanipekun, Adegboyega Awomolo, Kanu Agabi and James Onoja, Onnoghen is saying that he did not get a fair year before his seat was handed to Justice Tanko Muhammad.
Muhammad was sworn in last Friday after President Muhammadu Buhari announced the CJN’s suspension for not declaring his assets, including an inexplicable inflow of huge sums of money into his accounts.
But according to Onnoghen in his appeal, “The chairman and a member of the Code of Conduct Tribunal erred in law and violated the right of the appellant (Onnoghen) to a fair hearing when they made the order ex parte that he (Onnoghen) shall step aside as CJN and Chairman of the National Judicial Council over allegations of contravening provisions of the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act Cap C15 Laws of the Federation 2004 pending the determination of the motion on notice dated January 10, 2019.”
He asked the court to rule that the order was null and void.