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Just in: Appeal Court finally vindicates ex-CJN Onnoghen
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.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori was absent when the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) met in Abuja on Saturday night.
The meeting was to welcome new entrants into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), but Oborevwori, who recently teamed up with the party, did not attend.
Oborevwori, who swept to victory in 2023 under the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), however, dumped the party earlier in the week, citing several factors.
The governor, his predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa, and the entire PDP in the South-South state said they are collapsing their structure in the leading APC, which they argue serves as a better platform for the oil-rich state.
Other persons who attended the meeting include Senator Ned Nwoko, who represents Delta North; the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo; a former Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege; APC scribe, Felix Morka; a former governorship candidate in Delta State, Great Ogboru, and other members of the National Assembly.
Saturday’s meeting was held at the Imo Governors’ Lodge in the nation’s capital.
The recent wave of defections from the PDP to the APC has stirred debates among observers, politicians, and Nigerians alike.
With Okowa, a ranking member of the PDP who was the party’s vice presidential candidate in the 2023 election, joining APC, analysts argue that the most recent defections are a big blow to the main opposition party’s move to retake power in 2027.
But some PDP chieftains, including Bode George, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, and ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, are unmoved by the development.
They say the party would bounce back stronger ahead of the next general elections.
“What impact has the APC, as a government, given to the people? There is anger in the land. What do you think they are going to do there, if not for personal embellishment?” George, a former Ondo State military governor, said on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“The people of Delta are naturally PDP members. They know the kind of positive impact they enjoyed under the PDP national government. So, if you now decide to go, we wish you the best of luck. We’ve seen it before—those who trooped out eventually came back, because they’re heading into an organisation that is so personally owned.
CREDIT: Channels Television
The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced that Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, Enugu State, will reopen for flight operations on Monday, 28th April 2025, following the completion of emergency runway repairs.
On April 18th, 2025, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) announced that, due to a sudden and significant rupture in the asphalt surface at a critical section of the runway, the runway would be shut down for emergency repairs.
According to a statement by Mrs. Obiageli Orah, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, work was scheduled to begin on April 22nd and conclude before reopening on May 6th, 2025. However, rehabilitation works on the runway have been completed earlier than anticipated, and the runway has been cleared for landings and takeoffs by the engineers working with FAAN.
“FAAN appreciates all airport users and stakeholders for their understanding and cooperation during this time. The Authority sincerely apologises for the inconvenience but assures the public that all actions were taken in the interest of safety,” the statement read.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of LoveWorld Incorporated has claimed — without proof — that the COVID-19 vaccine was responsible for the death of Pope Francis.
In a video of a programme held on Thursday, which has since gone viral on YouTube, Oyakhilome alleged that the late Pope had aligned himself with “globalists” by promoting COVID-19 vaccines, a decision he said ultimately led to his death.
“I pointed it out during your LoveWorld Specials,” Oyakhilome said.
“While he was trying to encourage the world to take the vaccines, he stated that if Jesus were here, he would have taken the vaccine, and I found that very insulting.”
The televangelist went further to claim that the Pope’s stroke, reported as the immediate cause of death, was a result of blood clots triggered by the vaccine. Speaking to his congregation, Oyakhilome asked a medical doctor present whether a blood clot could cause a stroke. After receiving an affirmative response, he asserted: “The vaccine killed the Pope.”
“Blood clots is one of the most common causes of death from the vaccine. He’s not the only one. Many of them who became ill will not tell you. No one is going to tell you he died as a result of the vaccine. I warned you. I warned the world about taking those mRNA vaccines. No vaccine is good, not one of them, and they have never worked; it’s always been a deception,” said Oyakhilome.
“They have these people dying, they won’t tell you the cause. They dress it up. They get sick and they can’t be cured. They get sick and sick and worse and worse until it kills them. For some, very quickly. They call it sudden death syndrome. So, just remember that I warned you.
“This was a very healthy pope, and I told you that once that substance is inside your body, it can’t leave, it doesn’t go away. They have no scientific way to remove it because they never planned to remove it. It was planned for death, to kill as many people around the world. I feel pained that a pope like that would have his life cut short. And many around the world may not know what led to it but I have told you what led to it. It was the vaccine.”
This is not the first time Pastor Oyakhilome has made unsubstantiated claims about vaccines. Since 2020, he has consistently propagated misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, despite overwhelming scientific evidence proving their safety and effectiveness.
MEDICAL FACTS AND OFFICIAL STATEMENTS
Contrary to Oyakhilome’s assertions, official information from the Vatican states that Pope Francis was admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital after battling bronchitis for several days. His health deteriorated with a diagnosis of bilateral pneumonia on February 18.
After 38 days of hospital care, the Pope returned to his Vatican residence at Casa Santa Marta, where he died following a stroke and subsequent irreversible cardiac arrest.
The Vatican, in a statement released Monday, confirmed that Pope Francis died of a cerebral stroke and heart failure.
It is also publicly known that in his youth, Pope Francis underwent surgery to remove part of a lung damaged by a severe respiratory infection, a factor that contributed to his declining health in later years.
In 2021, he was hospitalised for 10 days after intestinal surgery. He was again hospitalised in 2023 for bronchitis treatment and later for abdominal surgery to remove scar tissue and repair a hernia.
OYAKHILOME’S HISTORY OF FALSE CLAIMS
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oyakhilome has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims. In 2020, he alleged that the COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria was orchestrated to install 5G technology in Abuja and Lagos.
“The Federal Government was pushed to lockdown Abuja and Lagos specifically because of 5G,” he said.
“What killed people in Wuhan, China, was not the virus but the 5G.”
Oyakhilome also dismissed the use of face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, claiming it was political rather than scientific. He said, “Wearing [masks] is politics, it’s okay. But no one should lie to us [that] it’s science… In fact, scientifically, it’s dangerous to health.”
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