The Code of Conduct Tribunal will on Thursday (today), deliver judgment on the charges of false declaration of assets filed against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.
The CCT will also rule on two applications filed by the CJN who tendered his resignation two weeks ago.
One of the applications is challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the case.
The second motion asked the tribunal chairman to disqualify himself from the trial on the allegation of likely bias.
Thelagostimes recalls that Onnoghen was suspended by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 25, 2019, following an order of the CCT that directed him to step down as the CJN pending the conclusion of his trial.
He reportedly resigned on April 4, about 24 hours after the National Judicial Council (NJC), which investigated allegations of misconduct levelled against him, submitted its recommendations to the President. The recommendations of the NJC have not been made public.
The federal government in a six-count charge filed at the CCT on January 11 accused Onnoghen of failure to declare his assets between June, 2005 and December, 2016 contrary to provisions of Section 15(1) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal (CCB/T) Act and punishable under Section 23(2) a, b, and c of the same Act.
In the charge, Onnoghen allegedly failed to declare a domiciliary (US Dollar) account No. 870001062650, a domiciliary (Pound Sterling) account No. 285001062679 and a domiciliary (Euro) account No. 93001062686 maintained with Standard Chartered Bank (Nig.) Ltd which is operated since 2011 contrary to Section 15(2) of the CCB/T Act.