Court of Appeal faults Exparte Order issued against Walter Onnoghen but…
– The Court of Appeal today faulted the Exparte Order issued by the CCT against former CJN, Walter Onnoghen
– The Court of Appeal, however, declined move to set the Exparte order aside
According to a latest report, the Court of Appeal in Abuja today faulted the Exparte Order that was issued by the Code of Conduct Tribunal CCT and acted upon by Pres. Muhammadu Buhari which led to the suspension of Walter Onnoghen in January.
The report made it known that the panel which comprised of a three-man panel of the court and chaired by Justice Stephen Adah, declared that since Walter Onnoghen had not been arraigned as at January 23, 2019 when the ex-parte order was passed then it was wrong for the prosecution to have the secretary went behind him to obtain an order for his removal from office.
However, irrespective of the observation by the Appeal Court, it still went ahead to decline the move to set aside the order.
The Appeal Court stated that the ex-parte order was no longer needed since the substantive trial had taken place.
See Also: Sen. Shehu Sanni gives 5 reasons state governments create Emirates and Chiefdoms
According to the judgement by the Court of Appeal, it advised parties involved in the case to make their appeal be in line with the judgment from the substantive trial.
Also, the Appeal Court faulted the Code of Conduct Tribunal CCT for refusing to obey the orders passed by four High Courts, which placed restrictions on it from proceeding with Walter Onnoghen’s trial.
The Appeal Court stated that the CCT when confronted with the substantive orders from the High Court should have gone ahead to appeal them instead of turning a blind eye.
In the long run, the Appeal Court dismissed the appeals brought before it by Walter Onnoghen, it noted that events have overtaken most of the reliefs sought in the appeals.
