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Just in: Appeal Court finally vindicates ex-CJN Onnoghen

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Finally, the Court of Appeal has declared the conviction and suspension of Justice Walter Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) as unlawful.

The Appeal Court also ordered that the bank accounts of Justice Onnoghen sealed by the government should be unfrozen and released to him.

The court discharged and acquitted the former CJN of his conviction and ruled that that the Code of Conduct Tribunal lacks jurisdiction over the matter that led to his conviction.

The court also set aside the ruling by the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar.

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Recall former President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 removed Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria during the pendency of a charge against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Onnoghen was prosecuted in 2019 by the federal government on false declaration of assets at the Code of Conduct Tribunal(CCT). He was pronounced guilty and removed from office. He was also made to forfeit the undeclared assets to the federal government.

Onnoghen not satisfied with the judgment of CCT appealed, praying the court to set aside the judgment that removed him from office and ordered the forfeiture of his five bank accounts.

In his appeal marked CA/ABJ/375 & 376 & 377/2019, Justice Onnoghen through his lead counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN asked the appellate court to quash his conviction primarily on ground of want of jurisdiction, bias and and absence of fair hearing.

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Among others, Onnoghen maintained that the Danladi Umar-led CCT panel erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice against him, when it failed to decline jurisdiction to entertain the six-count against him.

He contended that the CCT Chairman ought to have recused himself from presiding over his trial.

In his seven-point reliefs, Onnoghen, applied for an order setting aside his conviction as well as quashing the order for forfeiture of his assets and to discharge and acquit him of all the charges levelled against him.

Listing some of the particulars of error in the CCT’s verdict, Onnoghen argued that he was s judicial officer at the time the charges were filed against him on Jan. 11, 2019 and as such cannot be subjected to the jurisdiction of the lower tribunal.

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“On the authority of Nganiiwa v. FRN (2018) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1609) 30: at 340. 341 only the National Judicial Council (NJC) has the power to discipline the Appellant for misconduct and not the lower tribunal.

“The lower tribunal had in the case of FRN V. Sylvester Nwali Nguta in charge No: CCT/ABJ/01/2017 delivered on 9th January, 2018, affirmed the position of the Court in FRN Nganjiwa v. FRN .

The court further dismissed the charges acquitted and discharged Justice Ngwuta being a Judicial Officer subject only to the discipline of the National Judicial C0uncil.

“The lower tribunal has no iurisdittion over servng judicial officers such as the appellant, save the National Judicial Council.

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“The Motion on Notice dated Jan. 14, 2019, challenging the jurisdiction ought to be granted in all material particular as it purports to save the lower tribunal of needless futile exercise.

“The lower tribunal erred In law when it dismissed the Appellant’s Application seeking the chairman to recuse himself from further proceedings on the ground of real likelihood of bias and thus occasioned a miscarriage of justice.

“The Appellant has alleged that the chairman of the lower tribunal is biased towards him as a result of open remarks in the tribunal as well as the manner in which the proceedings was being conducted.”

Contrary to the CCT finding, Onnoghen, said he did not admit the fact of non-declaration of Assets from 2005 as the Justice of the Supreme Court, adding that he only stated that he did not declare in 2009 as required because he forgot.

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Onnoghen challenged the order for the confiscation of his assets on the grounds that the assets were legitimately acquired, as against the provisions of paragraph three of the section 23 of the CCB Act which only permits the seizure of such assets “if they were acquired by fraud.”

He faulted the failure of the prosecution to present the petitioner, Denis Aghanya, before the tribunal whose petition led to the charges against him.

Onnoghen maintained that all the allegations brought against him “constitute no offence and should therefore not have formed the basis for his conviction”.

The former CJN asked the Court of Appeal to issue some orders against the CCT judgment among which are that the tribunal lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the case and that its Chairman ought to have recused itself from the proceedings.

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Onnoghen therefore applied for an order setting aside his conviction and another one setting aside the order for forfeiture of his assets made by the Tribunal as well as to discharge and acquit him from the charges.

Onnoghen was in 2019 convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal in all the 6-count charges of breach of Code of Conduct for Public Officers brought against him by the federal government while in office as CJN .

In the lead judgment delivered by Chairman of the CCT, Danladi Umar, he had ordered the immediate removal of Onnoghen from office as the CJN.

The Tribunal had also stripped him of all offices earlier occupied among which were the Chairman of the National Judicial Council, NJC, and also the chairmanship of the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

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The tribunal also ordered the forfeiture of his five bank accounts and the money in the accounts which Onnoghen did not declare in his asset declaration form submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, an agency of the Federal Government.

Although Onnoghen had been on suspension since January 25, 2019 and had resigned on April 4, the tribunal nonetheless ordered his removal from office as the Chief Justice of Nigeria and also as the chairman of both the National Judicial Council and the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

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Doyin Okupe gives reasons why he will never support Obi again

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Ex-presidential spokesperson, Doyin Okupe, has given reasons why he would never support the former Anambra State governor again.

Okupe served as the director of Obi’s presidential campaign until he was forced to step down due to a court conviction for money laundering and later resigned from the Labour Party after the election.

Since resigning from the Labour Party, Okupe has become a prominent supporter of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Okupe had criticised Obi’s comments on how the economic situation offers little relief to the South-West, despite Tinubu being from the region.

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In the viral clip, Obi said, “Let us talk about what is happening today. Rice is about N100,000. We are not even sure where we are going to be. ‘It’s our turn’, ‘he is a Yoruba man’—ask the people in Ogun, here is there any place you people buy bread cheaper?”

Okupe while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, said, “When Obi made that statement, it insulted us. I am a Yoruba man; I left everything and followed Obi.

“For the first time, Obasanjo left his circle of influence and deviated to support Obi.

“I do not regret supporting Peter Obi. But now I cannot do it again. The reason why I did it was because we agreed that a southern president must emerge.

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“I was approached that if a southern president must emerge, which zone must it come to? I said the south-east.

“If all these eminent Yoruba people supported you, why now bring us down publicly? It is wrong.”

Okupe also stated that he would never publicly attack Peter Obi, acknowledging his significant role in the former presidential candidate’s political rise.

“I cannot hate Peter Obi; I am sentimentally attached to Peter Obi. Peter Obi was my project, and I am part and parcel of those who built Peter Obi up, I can’t publicly denigrate that or bring down that house.

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“But you know, when the sensibilities of some of us are affected, especially when it becomes a zonal matter, I mean when you call the entire Yoruba race out, I am an elder statesman and primarily a Yoruba man.

“If I cannot speak the truth at my age, then there is no point to live. What Peter Obi said was wrong, he said that emilokan, that they should ask people in Ogun State whether they are buying bread cheaper.

“When Bola Tinubu said emilokan, he was not addressing the nation, he was not addressing a rally, he was addressing APC delegates in the premises of Ogun State government who were going to APC convention that they should vote for him.”

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Just in: EndBadGovernance kids freed at last

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By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The imprisoned kids who joined EndBadGovernance protests have regained their freedom after 95 days in custody.

The kids regained freedom on Tuesday morning after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja struck out the suit following an application by M.D Abubakar, counsel to the attorney-general of the federation (AGF).

The 76 kids were charged in court by Nigeria Police on Friday, for terrorism, treason and arson for participating in hunger protest.

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Abubakar had applied to take over and discontinue the suit.

The kids freedom is coming barely 24 hours after President Bola Tinubu ordered their immediate release.

In a statement from the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, ”committee has been set up to look at the issues surrounding their arrest, detention and release. All the law enforcement agents related to the case will be investigated and anyone found wanting will be brought to book”.

The president also tasked the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to facilitating the safe return of the minors to their families.

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Equatorial Guinea S3x Scandal: Lady Reportedly Takes Own Life After Seeing Clips

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In a twist of events related to the ongoing s3x scandal in Equatorial Guinea, one of the women reportedly featured in explicit videos involving high-profile individuals took her own life.

The woman is believed to have been overwhelmed by the spread of the footage, which has gone viral and caused a media uproar in the country.

The scandal erupted after Baltasar Engonga, Director General of the National Financial Investigation Agency, was arrested on charges of misconduct, including allegedly recording over 400 videos involving wives of notable figures in the nation.

The videos, which surfaced amid a broader investigation into fraud, reportedly include intimate encounters with influential individuals, escalating the controversy.

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This latest development has sparked a public outcry, with many calling for stronger measures to protect the privacy and dignity of those affected by the leaked content.

Meanwhile, officials in Equatorial Guinea are reportedly taking steps to control the scandal’s impact as they continue their investigation.

Akelicious reports that Baltasar Engonga, the Director General of the National Financial Investigation Agency in Equatorial Guinea, was arrested following a shocking revelation of over 400 sextapes reportedly involving the wives of prominent figures in the country.

Engonga, 54, came under investigation for fraud, leading to an unannounced search of his residence and office, where officials discovered numerous CDs containing recordings of his alleged sexual encounters.

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The tapes reportedly feature encounters with high-profile individuals, including relatives and wives of government officials, such as the sister of the President, the wife of the Director General of Police, and spouses of approximately 20 ministers.

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